BBC PROPOSE NEW WHITE CITY ‘MEDIA VILLAGE’

A MAJOR new development merging the best of broadcasting with leisure and retail opportunities has been outlined in a proposal submitted by the BBC for their White City site in Wood Lane, London.
A planning application has been submitted to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Council to provide over 131,000 square metres of accommodation in eight new buildings, a few hundred yards away from BBC Television Centre.
The planning application includes detailed plans for a new broadcasting centre for television transmission, and outline plans for a possible new home for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus. In the long term, it will also provide accommodation for media companies who already have close links with the BBC and who want to locate nearer the organisation, creating a ‘media village’ in the heart of the community.
Pam Masters, Directors of Broadcasting and Presentation, said: “This is a really exciting time for us. We are in a highly demanding, constantly evolving business and need a building which can cope with the challenge. The new broadcasting centre will do just that and I am delighted we have taken a step closer to the move.”
The planning application gives detailed designs for three of the eight new buildings the BBC intends to place alongside the existing 40,000 square metre structure. In addition to the broadcasting centre, they are a central office building for BBC programme makers and an energy centre, which provides mechanical and electrical services to the entire site. The White City building will be modified in keeping with the rest of the development.
The development is part of the BBC’s strategy for rationalising their property portfolio and making their buildings more efficient, which in central London means concentrating on three key sites.
The BBC are currently seeking a partner from the private sector to allow it to upgrade their properties while ploughing more money into programme making.
The White City site is the first major project to benefit and as a result will be built at no additional cost to the licence fee payer.
(CD)