IS
Last time I was there you could just walk in off the street, across the whole of the front of the building, through the courtyard and through to the back ring road. Don't know what the current situation is though.
Is the doughnut now effectively a public space?
Last time I was there you could just walk in off the street, across the whole of the front of the building, through the courtyard and through to the back ring road. Don't know what the current situation is though.
GO
I think it depended on where your office was in the building and if you wanted or needed to go to other parts of the building. I worked in the doughnut on the 6th floor for a bit and there was an extraordinarily confusing route from there to the Killing (Filling) Station which I think was the only 24 hour cafe in TVC at the time. I think it involved going down two floors, walking along a bit, going up a floor, going down a few twisty corridors before eventually finding it in that weird off-corridor room it was in. And even if you knew were you were going it could be a good ten minute walk bringing guests from reception to your office on the other side of the complex!
Perhaps it was fully booked right in its very last weeks when presumably the price of hiring the studios that had already had their galleries stripped out was very low, but the last January I was there the place was very quiet. There was a point where the only studio production that seemed to be happening in the place was a CBeebies show. The whole complex desperately needed refurbishing and having just completed a hugely expensive refurbishment of NBH would the BBC have been able to afford it? And would they have been able to justify that cost to the public when, as we've seen from the current set up, the alternative of selling and moving down the street ended up working well.
BBC Studioworks of course took on much of Elstree to mitigate the TVC closures so I expect no income was lost for the BBC in that regards anyway.
I never got the 'difficult to navigate' thing, I never had a problem in it. I only worked there for a few years and didn't go back for about 10 by which time it was closed... and could still find my way round.
That said, outside of the round bit it was a mish mash of corridors
That said, outside of the round bit it was a mish mash of corridors
I think it depended on where your office was in the building and if you wanted or needed to go to other parts of the building. I worked in the doughnut on the 6th floor for a bit and there was an extraordinarily confusing route from there to the Killing (Filling) Station which I think was the only 24 hour cafe in TVC at the time. I think it involved going down two floors, walking along a bit, going up a floor, going down a few twisty corridors before eventually finding it in that weird off-corridor room it was in. And even if you knew were you were going it could be a good ten minute walk bringing guests from reception to your office on the other side of the complex!
Should never have been destroyed, and the situation at the present proves it. It was fully booked when it closed and would have been now making lots of money towards new programmes for us licence fee payers. Thomson & Patel should be truly ashamed.
Perhaps it was fully booked right in its very last weeks when presumably the price of hiring the studios that had already had their galleries stripped out was very low, but the last January I was there the place was very quiet. There was a point where the only studio production that seemed to be happening in the place was a CBeebies show. The whole complex desperately needed refurbishing and having just completed a hugely expensive refurbishment of NBH would the BBC have been able to afford it? And would they have been able to justify that cost to the public when, as we've seen from the current set up, the alternative of selling and moving down the street ended up working well.
BBC Studioworks of course took on much of Elstree to mitigate the TVC closures so I expect no income was lost for the BBC in that regards anyway.
PA
I think it depended on where your office was in the building and if you wanted or needed to go to other parts of the building. I worked in the doughnut on the 6th floor for a bit and there was an extraordinarily confusing route from there to the Killing (Filling) Station which I think was the only 24 hour cafe in TVC at the time. I think it involved going down two floors, walking along a bit, going up a floor, going down a few twisty corridors before eventually finding it in that weird off-corridor room it was in. And even if you knew were you were going it could be a good ten minute walk bringing guests from reception to your office on the other side of the complex!
Perhaps it was fully booked right in its very last weeks when presumably the price of hiring the studios that had already had their galleries stripped out was very low, but the last January I was there the place was very quiet. There was a point where the only studio production that seemed to be happening in the place was a CBeebies show. The whole complex desperately needed refurbishing and having just completed a hugely expensive refurbishment of NBH would the BBC have been able to afford it? And would they have been able to justify that cost to the public when, as we've seen from the current set up, the alternative of selling and moving down the street ended up working well.
BBC Studioworks of course took on much of Elstree to mitigate the TVC closures so I expect no income was lost for the BBC in that regards anyway.
The costs of moving to Elstree & fitting them out exceeded the costs of staying put in ready fitted HD studios. There was no reason that the studios could not be retained and the rest of the building refitted as tenants were found for parts of it. The cost of moving the broadcast centre alone was astronomical. The situation could have been handled much better and the place would still be standing as a useful studio centre with income towards the licence fee.
I never got the 'difficult to navigate' thing, I never had a problem in it. I only worked there for a few years and didn't go back for about 10 by which time it was closed... and could still find my way round.
That said, outside of the round bit it was a mish mash of corridors
That said, outside of the round bit it was a mish mash of corridors
I think it depended on where your office was in the building and if you wanted or needed to go to other parts of the building. I worked in the doughnut on the 6th floor for a bit and there was an extraordinarily confusing route from there to the Killing (Filling) Station which I think was the only 24 hour cafe in TVC at the time. I think it involved going down two floors, walking along a bit, going up a floor, going down a few twisty corridors before eventually finding it in that weird off-corridor room it was in. And even if you knew were you were going it could be a good ten minute walk bringing guests from reception to your office on the other side of the complex!
Should never have been destroyed, and the situation at the present proves it. It was fully booked when it closed and would have been now making lots of money towards new programmes for us licence fee payers. Thomson & Patel should be truly ashamed.
Perhaps it was fully booked right in its very last weeks when presumably the price of hiring the studios that had already had their galleries stripped out was very low, but the last January I was there the place was very quiet. There was a point where the only studio production that seemed to be happening in the place was a CBeebies show. The whole complex desperately needed refurbishing and having just completed a hugely expensive refurbishment of NBH would the BBC have been able to afford it? And would they have been able to justify that cost to the public when, as we've seen from the current set up, the alternative of selling and moving down the street ended up working well.
BBC Studioworks of course took on much of Elstree to mitigate the TVC closures so I expect no income was lost for the BBC in that regards anyway.
The costs of moving to Elstree & fitting them out exceeded the costs of staying put in ready fitted HD studios. There was no reason that the studios could not be retained and the rest of the building refitted as tenants were found for parts of it. The cost of moving the broadcast centre alone was astronomical. The situation could have been handled much better and the place would still be standing as a useful studio centre with income towards the licence fee.
IS
The costs of moving to Elstree & fitting them out exceeded the costs of staying put in ready fitted HD studios. There was no reason that the studios could not be retained and the rest of the building refitted as tenants were found for parts of it.
A heck of a lot of rebuilding would have been needed to make the rest of the building suitable for renting out. It was a higgledy piggledy mishmash of extensions and inadequate offices. The studios were great, what was around them wasn't.
Not impossible, but after rebuilding BH they couldn't have justified doing it to TVC too
Not sure what you mean, The Broadcast Centre (and the Media Centre next door) opened about 10 years before TV Centre opened. Presentation (Red Bee as it is now known) were planning to move out long before that as TVC wasn't suitable for them
The costs of moving to Elstree & fitting them out exceeded the costs of staying put in ready fitted HD studios. There was no reason that the studios could not be retained and the rest of the building refitted as tenants were found for parts of it.
A heck of a lot of rebuilding would have been needed to make the rest of the building suitable for renting out. It was a higgledy piggledy mishmash of extensions and inadequate offices. The studios were great, what was around them wasn't.
Not impossible, but after rebuilding BH they couldn't have justified doing it to TVC too
Quote:
The cost of moving the broadcast centre alone was astronomical.
Not sure what you mean, The Broadcast Centre (and the Media Centre next door) opened about 10 years before TV Centre opened. Presentation (Red Bee as it is now known) were planning to move out long before that as TVC wasn't suitable for them
CO
If you think TVC was impossible to find your way around, you can't ever have been to Lime Grove.
I know people who had worked there for some time still had to reference everything to reception.
A colleague knew to get from one gallery to another associated room which required a long walk through the building.
One day, someone opened a door he hadn't been aware of, and it became obvious they were next door to each other......
It happens when buildings are adapted, and made up of buildings bought up as they became available.
At least TVC was purpose built - even if it wasn't all built at the same time!
I know people who had worked there for some time still had to reference everything to reception.
A colleague knew to get from one gallery to another associated room which required a long walk through the building.
One day, someone opened a door he hadn't been aware of, and it became obvious they were next door to each other......
It happens when buildings are adapted, and made up of buildings bought up as they became available.
At least TVC was purpose built - even if it wasn't all built at the same time!
JO
I might be seeing a false link here, but it seems like people are saying that these images of Top Gear at TVC show that TVC should have been kept.
Probably worth remembering that the reason it looks so great is great lighting, good camerawork and the ‘coolness’ of the cars. Yeah, TVC is iconic, but I reckon they could probably have ported that set up to the housing development I live on and achieve some amazing results too (I’m not entirely joking!)
It’s absolutely a shame to think that those studios where so much TV history was made have been destroyed. I’d have loved an approach where more studios could have been retained.
On the other hand, the fascia of this site with so much heritage remains, along with three studios making so many hours of output each week. It could have been nothing.
I’ve not looked at this figures closely, and I’m not suggesting that they went about things in exactly the right way. But it seems to me that a huge amount of money needed spending on it in the 21st century to get it working effectively and efficiently. It was built at a time when most things were in-house and technology required loads of space. The world has changed. It’s kind of sad, but I think it would be so hard to justify spending what would have needed spending.
Probably worth remembering that the reason it looks so great is great lighting, good camerawork and the ‘coolness’ of the cars. Yeah, TVC is iconic, but I reckon they could probably have ported that set up to the housing development I live on and achieve some amazing results too (I’m not entirely joking!)
It’s absolutely a shame to think that those studios where so much TV history was made have been destroyed. I’d have loved an approach where more studios could have been retained.
On the other hand, the fascia of this site with so much heritage remains, along with three studios making so many hours of output each week. It could have been nothing.
I’ve not looked at this figures closely, and I’m not suggesting that they went about things in exactly the right way. But it seems to me that a huge amount of money needed spending on it in the 21st century to get it working effectively and efficiently. It was built at a time when most things were in-house and technology required loads of space. The world has changed. It’s kind of sad, but I think it would be so hard to justify spending what would have needed spending.
IS
Well last series they did the same, but in the middle of a featureless runway, and it looked great too!
I might be seeing a false link here, but it seems like people are saying that these images of Top Gear at TVC show that TVC should have been kept.
Probably worth remembering that the reason it looks so great is great lighting, good camerawork and the ‘coolness’ of the cars. Yeah, TVC is iconic, but I reckon they could probably have ported that set up to the housing development I live on and achieve some amazing results too (I’m not entirely joking!) .
Probably worth remembering that the reason it looks so great is great lighting, good camerawork and the ‘coolness’ of the cars. Yeah, TVC is iconic, but I reckon they could probably have ported that set up to the housing development I live on and achieve some amazing results too (I’m not entirely joking!) .
Well last series they did the same, but in the middle of a featureless runway, and it looked great too!