BBC PLANS FOR REDEVELOPMENT OF BROADCASTING HOUSE

THE BBC have submitted plans to Westminster City Council for their redevelopment of Broadcasting House as the new home of BBC Radio & Music, BBC News and BBC World Service.
The project will create the largest live broadcast centre in the world providing facilities for over 5,000 staff.
The new complex will include public spaces and amenities designed to make the BBC more accessible and welcoming to visitors. Digitally equipped for national and international radio, television and online, the site will be completed in 2007.
The scheme by British architect, Sir Richard MacCormac and his team, is a combination of the old and the new, designed to integrate the original 1930s landmark, a Grade II listed building, with exciting new architecture. MacCormac, Jamieson and Prichard’s recent projects include the Wellcome Wing at the Science Museum, the award-winning Ruskin Library at Lancaster University, and Southwark Underground Station, one of the acclaimed new stations on the Jubilee Line Extension.
John Smith, BBC Director of Finance, Property and Business Affairs, said: "Richard MacCormac’s innovative and inspiring designs for Broadcasting House reaffirm the BBC’s role as one of the world’s leading cultural and creative organisations. This landmark project will form the flagship of our strategy to create more stimulating and flexible working environments for staff, and buildings which are also more welcoming to our audiences and the local community. The BBC is an organisation which is recognised and respected all over the world, and Broadcasting House, situated at the heart of London, will enable us to meet the future challenges of the ever-changing world of broadcasting. We still have a long way to go in the process but this marks an important milestone in what is a uniquely complex project."
In line with their strategy to direct more money into programme making, the BBC plan to source funding to finance the development through a commercial partner. This will enable the development to be undertaken at no additional cost to the licence fee payer. (CD)