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Headline, Industry News
After 50 years in the spotlight, BBC Television Centre is put up for sale
Tuesday June 14th 2011It is the home of TV classics from Top of the Pops to Strictly Come Dancing, has Blue Peter pets buried in its famous garden and has even borne the brunt of a car bomb. But Television Centre in west London will not survive the BBC’s drive to cut costs, after the corporation decided to put the £300m building up for sale.
The doughnut-shaped complex, which dates back to 1960, may have been designed on the back of an envelope in a pub – but generations of television viewers brought up watching programmes broadcast from the Wood Lane building were up in arms on Twitter complaining about the planned sale.
Mark Gatiss, the writer of Sherlock, tweeted: “A black, black day. As soon as #TV Centre has gone, a new report will no doubt recommend the building of a ‘sort of HQ’ for the BBC“.
BBC radio DJ Danny Baker called the executives behind the decision “soul-less crumbs” and “half-wits” while the TV presenter and Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker said that “it’s like they’re going to saw up the Tardis and use it for firewood”.
The comedian Katy Brand added a touch of nostalgia to what the BBC executives responsible for running sell-off and closure referred to, somewhat clinically, as “another milestone in the BBC’s property strategy”, commenting that she used to “climb over the Blue Peter garden fence & sit by Shep’s grave” when on work experience at night as a teenager.
The children of the future will have to try harder to keep an eye on Shep’s successors though: whoever buys the site will not inherit the Blue Peter garden.
It is to be relocated to the rooftop in Salford, where the BBC is in the process of moving its children’s and sports departments, just a stone’s throw from Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.
Despite the outcry, the BBC has been preparing to move out of Television Centre for some time – with the broadcaster first mooting the idea in 2007 – as the corporation aims to reduce its property holdings by 30%.
Selling the building, it is hoped, will save £20m a year, enough to pay for 30 hours of high-quality drama.
The decision means the BBC will succeed where the Real IRA failed. In 2001, a bomb exploded just outside the site while police were trying to carry out a controlled explosion. It blew up a taxi but left minimal damage to the building itself, parts of which are now Grade II-listed.
Under the plans, the building – which is home to 12 studios and 5,000 staff – will be “fully vacated” by 2015.
Aside from the move to Salford, BBC News is moving to the “home of journalism” – the description by corporation bosses of the newly renovated Broadcasting House just up the road from Oxford Circus. “We want as much investment in programmes, not property, as we can,” added Richard Deverell, who is overseeing the development of the site. “This is part of the evolution to best meet the needs of licence-fee payers.”
The BBC is looking at either an outright sale or partnership opportunities, with some of the ideas being suggested on Monday including the prospect of redeveloping it as a hub for other media and technology companies, including sharing facilities with ITV or even the new media giant Google. Also under consideration is the development of a BBC-linked visitor site or museum.
However, for all the talk of a BBC attraction, Chris Kane, head of BBC Workplace, admitted that a sale of the site for houses and flats would be ideal at a time when the corporation is contending with the consequences of a licence fee that will be frozen at its 2010 level of £145.50 a year until 2016. He indicated that residential development would be one of the most lucrative options to “maximise the value of the site”.
The BBC owns 585,000 square metres of property space across the UK – in 483 locations, with about 100 buildings relating to broadcasting.
Source: The Guardian
Headline, Industry News
After 50 years in the spotlight, BBC Television Centre is put up for sale
Tuesday June 14th 2011It is the home of TV classics from Top of the Pops to Strictly Come Dancing, has Blue Peter pets buried in its famous garden and has even borne the brunt of a car bomb. But Television Centre in west London will not survive the BBC’s drive to cut costs, after the corporation decided to put the £300m building up for sale.
The doughnut-shaped complex, which dates back to 1960, may have been designed on the back of an envelope in a pub – but generations of television viewers brought up watching programmes broadcast from the Wood Lane building were up in arms on Twitter complaining about the planned sale.
Mark Gatiss, the writer of Sherlock, tweeted: “A black, black day. As soon as #TV Centre has gone, a new report will no doubt recommend the building of a ‘sort of HQ’ for the BBC“.
BBC radio DJ Danny Baker called the executives behind the decision “soul-less crumbs” and “half-wits” while the TV presenter and Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker said that “it’s like they’re going to saw up the Tardis and use it for firewood”.
The comedian Katy Brand added a touch of nostalgia to what the BBC executives responsible for running sell-off and closure referred to, somewhat clinically, as “another milestone in the BBC’s property strategy”, commenting that she used to “climb over the Blue Peter garden fence & sit by Shep’s grave” when on work experience at night as a teenager.
The children of the future will have to try harder to keep an eye on Shep’s successors though: whoever buys the site will not inherit the Blue Peter garden.
It is to be relocated to the rooftop in Salford, where the BBC is in the process of moving its children’s and sports departments, just a stone’s throw from Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.
Despite the outcry, the BBC has been preparing to move out of Television Centre for some time – with the broadcaster first mooting the idea in 2007 – as the corporation aims to reduce its property holdings by 30%.
Selling the building, it is hoped, will save £20m a year, enough to pay for 30 hours of high-quality drama.
The decision means the BBC will succeed where the Real IRA failed. In 2001, a bomb exploded just outside the site while police were trying to carry out a controlled explosion. It blew up a taxi but left minimal damage to the building itself, parts of which are now Grade II-listed.
Under the plans, the building – which is home to 12 studios and 5,000 staff – will be “fully vacated” by 2015.
Aside from the move to Salford, BBC News is moving to the “home of journalism” – the description by corporation bosses of the newly renovated Broadcasting House just up the road from Oxford Circus. “We want as much investment in programmes, not property, as we can,” added Richard Deverell, who is overseeing the development of the site. “This is part of the evolution to best meet the needs of licence-fee payers.”
The BBC is looking at either an outright sale or partnership opportunities, with some of the ideas being suggested on Monday including the prospect of redeveloping it as a hub for other media and technology companies, including sharing facilities with ITV or even the new media giant Google. Also under consideration is the development of a BBC-linked visitor site or museum.
However, for all the talk of a BBC attraction, Chris Kane, head of BBC Workplace, admitted that a sale of the site for houses and flats would be ideal at a time when the corporation is contending with the consequences of a licence fee that will be frozen at its 2010 level of £145.50 a year until 2016. He indicated that residential development would be one of the most lucrative options to “maximise the value of the site”.
The BBC owns 585,000 square metres of property space across the UK – in 483 locations, with about 100 buildings relating to broadcasting.
Source: The Guardian
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Headline, Industry News
After 50 years in the spotlight, BBC Television Centre is put up for sale
Tuesday June 14th 2011It is the home of TV classics from Top of the Pops to Strictly Come Dancing, has Blue Peter pets buried in its famous garden and has even borne the brunt of a car bomb. But Television Centre in west London will not survive the BBC’s drive to cut costs, after the corporation decided to put the £300m building up for sale.
The doughnut-shaped complex, which dates back to 1960, may have been designed on the back of an envelope in a pub – but generations of television viewers brought up watching programmes broadcast from the Wood Lane building were up in arms on Twitter complaining about the planned sale.
Mark Gatiss, the writer of Sherlock, tweeted: “A black, black day. As soon as #TV Centre has gone, a new report will no doubt recommend the building of a ‘sort of HQ’ for the BBC“.
BBC radio DJ Danny Baker called the executives behind the decision “soul-less crumbs” and “half-wits” while the TV presenter and Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker said that “it’s like they’re going to saw up the Tardis and use it for firewood”.
The comedian Katy Brand added a touch of nostalgia to what the BBC executives responsible for running sell-off and closure referred to, somewhat clinically, as “another milestone in the BBC’s property strategy”, commenting that she used to “climb over the Blue Peter garden fence & sit by Shep’s grave” when on work experience at night as a teenager.
The children of the future will have to try harder to keep an eye on Shep’s successors though: whoever buys the site will not inherit the Blue Peter garden.
It is to be relocated to the rooftop in Salford, where the BBC is in the process of moving its children’s and sports departments, just a stone’s throw from Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.
Despite the outcry, the BBC has been preparing to move out of Television Centre for some time – with the broadcaster first mooting the idea in 2007 – as the corporation aims to reduce its property holdings by 30%.
Selling the building, it is hoped, will save £20m a year, enough to pay for 30 hours of high-quality drama.
The decision means the BBC will succeed where the Real IRA failed. In 2001, a bomb exploded just outside the site while police were trying to carry out a controlled explosion. It blew up a taxi but left minimal damage to the building itself, parts of which are now Grade II-listed.
Under the plans, the building – which is home to 12 studios and 5,000 staff – will be “fully vacated” by 2015.
Aside from the move to Salford, BBC News is moving to the “home of journalism” – the description by corporation bosses of the newly renovated Broadcasting House just up the road from Oxford Circus. “We want as much investment in programmes, not property, as we can,” added Richard Deverell, who is overseeing the development of the site. “This is part of the evolution to best meet the needs of licence-fee payers.”
The BBC is looking at either an outright sale or partnership opportunities, with some of the ideas being suggested on Monday including the prospect of redeveloping it as a hub for other media and technology companies, including sharing facilities with ITV or even the new media giant Google. Also under consideration is the development of a BBC-linked visitor site or museum.
However, for all the talk of a BBC attraction, Chris Kane, head of BBC Workplace, admitted that a sale of the site for houses and flats would be ideal at a time when the corporation is contending with the consequences of a licence fee that will be frozen at its 2010 level of £145.50 a year until 2016. He indicated that residential development would be one of the most lucrative options to “maximise the value of the site”.
The BBC owns 585,000 square metres of property space across the UK – in 483 locations, with about 100 buildings relating to broadcasting.
Source: The Guardian
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