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Article from Media Guardian regarding the possible future of BBC Television Centre:
For almost 50 years it has been an icon of British broadcasting, the distinctive home of historic TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Blue Peter. But Television Centre in west London, an analogue relic in the digital age, now faces closure as part of plans by the BBC to sell off the 13-acre complex.
The news will be greeted with a mixture of delight and nostalgic dismay by BBC staff, who have toiled for years in a 1960s building designed on the back of an envelope, long before the advent of high definition and satellite television.
And it will signal the end of an era for the biggest broadcasting centre in Britain, symbolising the shift in the balance of power away from big media companies towards independent producers and individual consumers.
If the sale goes ahead, it could raise millions of pounds for the BBC, which is likely to need the cash after the government announces a licence fee deal next week expected to be much lower than the figure the corporation wanted.
The sell-off is understood to be one of the options contained in a draft "London property strategy" submitted by BBC managers to the board of governors in October. The minutes of the meeting record that the governors discussed the plan, but details have not been published because they are commercially sensitive.
The proposals have been drawn up because many of the staff at Television Centre are due to move out in the next few years, along with the programmes that currently keep the site's TV studios busy.
Up to 1,800 staff working in children's programmes, sport and Radio Five Live are due to move to Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2009. At the same time several thousand BBC News staff are due to move to the refurbished and expanded Broadcasting House in central London.
Sport, children's programmes and news make up the bulk of the shows filmed at Television Centre, and their move will make the studios mostly redundant. The workload is no longer big enough to keep them in constant use since drama production moved from video to film in the 1990s and more recent decisions to outsource shows to independent companies.
Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, conceded that it was an "iconic" building but said other options were also being considered as part of plans to reduce the number of sites the corporation occupies. The BBC said a decision would be made later in the year, once the licence fee deal has been signed, and when it is clear how many staff will be moving out.
One source at a commercial property firm, who did not want to be named, said it would be likely that the land could be suitable for mixed use, because a large retail development is already being built on a nearby site at Shepherd's Bush. This could affect the value of the site.
The centre's closure would end half a century of media history at the location. It opened in 1960 on a site used for the Franco-British exhibition of 1908 - all the exhibition buildings were white, and the area has since been known as White City.
The architect, Graham Dawbarn, conceived the idea in a local pub where he went to consider a 50-page brief, according to the BBC's website. He pulled out a used envelope, sketched the triangular site on the back of it, and drew a question mark in the middle. He realised that the question mark shape would be the ideal design for a complex that required studios, offices, an area for trucks to deliver material for sets, and a separate area where audiences could arrive.
Thus was born the distinctive circular design, which has since been used in the title sequences and backdrops of many BBC programmes. (The envelope is now held in the corporation's archives.)
Despite its recognisability, however, the building is not particularly popular among staff. Its rabbit-warren layout is confusing and various refits and extensions have added to the sense of chaos.
In March 2001, the front of the building was severely damaged by a bomb attributed to dissident Irish republicans.
The closure of Television Centre would not end the BBC's association with west London, however, as it would still have its newer buildings on a nearby site.
The Doughnut
The main, circular block is known by BBC staff as the "doughnut".
A statue in the centre, designed by T B Huxley-Jones, is of the Greek sun god Helios, symbolising the light of television around the world; originally it was a fountain, but was shut down because of complaints about the noise.
The first drama to be made in colour at TV Centre is thought to have been an adaptation of Vanity Fair, starring Susan Hampshire, shown in 1967. The final studio drama was probably House of Eliott, which ended in 1993.
Television Centre has seen numerous demonstrations, most memorably by lesbians storming the Six O'Clock News studio in May 1988 in protest against Section 28 legislation prohibiting promotion of homosexuality. Presenter Sue Lawley imperturbably continued to read the news while co-host Nicholas Witchell restrained one woman.
The biggest studio is TC1, which is 995 sq m (10,250 sq ft). It is used only for big specials, such as Children in Need and the general election programme.
A Real IRA bomb concealed in a taxi blew up in front of Television Centre on March 4 2001. No-one was hurt, but the offices housing BBC News staff were severely damaged.
Footballer Les Ferdinand confessed to "helping a few people over the wall" when the Blue Peter Garden, located at TV Centre, was vandalised in 1984.
For almost 50 years it has been an icon of British broadcasting, the distinctive home of historic TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Blue Peter. But Television Centre in west London, an analogue relic in the digital age, now faces closure as part of plans by the BBC to sell off the 13-acre complex.
The news will be greeted with a mixture of delight and nostalgic dismay by BBC staff, who have toiled for years in a 1960s building designed on the back of an envelope, long before the advent of high definition and satellite television.
And it will signal the end of an era for the biggest broadcasting centre in Britain, symbolising the shift in the balance of power away from big media companies towards independent producers and individual consumers.
If the sale goes ahead, it could raise millions of pounds for the BBC, which is likely to need the cash after the government announces a licence fee deal next week expected to be much lower than the figure the corporation wanted.
The sell-off is understood to be one of the options contained in a draft "London property strategy" submitted by BBC managers to the board of governors in October. The minutes of the meeting record that the governors discussed the plan, but details have not been published because they are commercially sensitive.
The proposals have been drawn up because many of the staff at Television Centre are due to move out in the next few years, along with the programmes that currently keep the site's TV studios busy.
Up to 1,800 staff working in children's programmes, sport and Radio Five Live are due to move to Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2009. At the same time several thousand BBC News staff are due to move to the refurbished and expanded Broadcasting House in central London.
Sport, children's programmes and news make up the bulk of the shows filmed at Television Centre, and their move will make the studios mostly redundant. The workload is no longer big enough to keep them in constant use since drama production moved from video to film in the 1990s and more recent decisions to outsource shows to independent companies.
Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, conceded that it was an "iconic" building but said other options were also being considered as part of plans to reduce the number of sites the corporation occupies. The BBC said a decision would be made later in the year, once the licence fee deal has been signed, and when it is clear how many staff will be moving out.
One source at a commercial property firm, who did not want to be named, said it would be likely that the land could be suitable for mixed use, because a large retail development is already being built on a nearby site at Shepherd's Bush. This could affect the value of the site.
The centre's closure would end half a century of media history at the location. It opened in 1960 on a site used for the Franco-British exhibition of 1908 - all the exhibition buildings were white, and the area has since been known as White City.
The architect, Graham Dawbarn, conceived the idea in a local pub where he went to consider a 50-page brief, according to the BBC's website. He pulled out a used envelope, sketched the triangular site on the back of it, and drew a question mark in the middle. He realised that the question mark shape would be the ideal design for a complex that required studios, offices, an area for trucks to deliver material for sets, and a separate area where audiences could arrive.
Thus was born the distinctive circular design, which has since been used in the title sequences and backdrops of many BBC programmes. (The envelope is now held in the corporation's archives.)
Despite its recognisability, however, the building is not particularly popular among staff. Its rabbit-warren layout is confusing and various refits and extensions have added to the sense of chaos.
In March 2001, the front of the building was severely damaged by a bomb attributed to dissident Irish republicans.
The closure of Television Centre would not end the BBC's association with west London, however, as it would still have its newer buildings on a nearby site.
The Doughnut
The main, circular block is known by BBC staff as the "doughnut".
A statue in the centre, designed by T B Huxley-Jones, is of the Greek sun god Helios, symbolising the light of television around the world; originally it was a fountain, but was shut down because of complaints about the noise.
The first drama to be made in colour at TV Centre is thought to have been an adaptation of Vanity Fair, starring Susan Hampshire, shown in 1967. The final studio drama was probably House of Eliott, which ended in 1993.
Television Centre has seen numerous demonstrations, most memorably by lesbians storming the Six O'Clock News studio in May 1988 in protest against Section 28 legislation prohibiting promotion of homosexuality. Presenter Sue Lawley imperturbably continued to read the news while co-host Nicholas Witchell restrained one woman.
The biggest studio is TC1, which is 995 sq m (10,250 sq ft). It is used only for big specials, such as Children in Need and the general election programme.
A Real IRA bomb concealed in a taxi blew up in front of Television Centre on March 4 2001. No-one was hurt, but the offices housing BBC News staff were severely damaged.
Footballer Les Ferdinand confessed to "helping a few people over the wall" when the Blue Peter Garden, located at TV Centre, was vandalised in 1984.
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