CW
cwathen
Founding member
How extensive is Anglia's building and how much remains in use?
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
NG
Anglia have two main studio centres in Norwich. Their main building is the converted Post Office and Corn Exchange (I think) on the hill, and this contains the larger studios (and used to be home to Anglia News?) and there is a more modern concrete building in Magdalene Street. The Magdalene Street studios now house Anglia News East and West I think - they were re-equipped quite recently in studio terms (though still use ancient MII editing kit?)
Anglia used to also have a number of small offices dotted around the buildings close to the Post Office/Corn Exchange premises - but I believe most of these have been closed.
If Granada retains Anglia as a daytime production centre making Trisha then it makes sense to keep the Anglia main studio centre - as it is cheaper to make lots of audience shows outside London.
noggin
Founding member
cwathen posted:
How extensive is Anglia's building and how much remains in use?
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
Anglia have two main studio centres in Norwich. Their main building is the converted Post Office and Corn Exchange (I think) on the hill, and this contains the larger studios (and used to be home to Anglia News?) and there is a more modern concrete building in Magdalene Street. The Magdalene Street studios now house Anglia News East and West I think - they were re-equipped quite recently in studio terms (though still use ancient MII editing kit?)
Anglia used to also have a number of small offices dotted around the buildings close to the Post Office/Corn Exchange premises - but I believe most of these have been closed.
If Granada retains Anglia as a daytime production centre making Trisha then it makes sense to keep the Anglia main studio centre - as it is cheaper to make lots of audience shows outside London.
BR
That was said by SMG when they sold off Queens Cross for millions and moved to an industrial estate (or as they put it "Business Park)!!
cwathen posted:
How extensive is Anglia's building and how much remains in use?
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
I'd imagine it's quite a large facility, considering that they did knock out a fair bit of studio based programming in the past. But what remains there now? Trisha, Anglia News and what else? If that's more or less it and they are occupying a large building in a central location to make that in, then it wouldn't at all surprise me if Granada's next move is to pack Trisha off to Kent House, move Anglia to a smaller facility on an industrial estate (probably with only studio space for Anglia News), and then sell off the existing studios (This will doubtless be heralded as a great day for regional television as Granada 'invest' in brand new state of the art studios instead of those nasty old ones they've been in since 1959...).
That was said by SMG when they sold off Queens Cross for millions and moved to an industrial estate (or as they put it "Business Park)!!
NW
Well all of the building is still there (I went past it on the train today) but I think they only use Oxford Road for NWT, the religious department and GMR. Though I assume that the religious department takes up a lot of space as they use a studio for heaven and earth show and I think they have a lot of editing facilites for other programmes like Songs Of Praise, I only know this as we did this in RS. Though if they want to make Manchester the home of BBC2, they need to do a big job, though that would really be cool, BBC NW's facilites aren't up to scratch, if you want proof, just watch the ident they playout before NWT. So a good idea to is to upgrade the equipment or move out of Oxford Road. Or give it a big renovation, as said on the front of the building you can still make out the B B C NW it is that old.
noggin posted:
I don't know what the BBC did with their studios at Oxford Road - if they haven't been converted to offices it would be feasible to re-equip?
Well all of the building is still there (I went past it on the train today) but I think they only use Oxford Road for NWT, the religious department and GMR. Though I assume that the religious department takes up a lot of space as they use a studio for heaven and earth show and I think they have a lot of editing facilites for other programmes like Songs Of Praise, I only know this as we did this in RS. Though if they want to make Manchester the home of BBC2, they need to do a big job, though that would really be cool, BBC NW's facilites aren't up to scratch, if you want proof, just watch the ident they playout before NWT. So a good idea to is to upgrade the equipment or move out of Oxford Road. Or give it a big renovation, as said on the front of the building you can still make out the B B C NW it is that old.
CW
I liked Westcountry's description of being based at a 'Science Park', making it sound all futuristic and magical; infact their facility is actually just a small secondary steel building on an unimportant industrial estate 5 miles away from Plymouth (the city that's supposed to be at the heart of their region). That compared to the good old days of Westward/TSW which had a fairly large (for a broadcaster with little network presence) brick built studio complex slap bang in the middle of Plymouth city centre (I walk past the old TSW building on a daily basis; Westcountry's building I have only seen twice, and then only because I have specifically travelled out to see it).
I will say one thing though, Westcountry's building ironically looks nicer with it's Carlton branding than it ever did with their own (there's something about orange and red painted steel that works in a way that blue and grey just doesn't)
(and in all fairness to Westcountry, they did want to establish a prominent new building in central Plymouth, but the TSW legal battle (they didn't know for sure that they had won the franchise until February 1992 - 10 months before they had to start broadcasting) meant they had to scramble for whatever facilities they could get, leading to the industrial estate solution (and the deal for outsourcing transmission to HTV Wales). Had ITV not ended up the way it has it probably was their intention that being based way up at Langage was only intended to be a temporary measure).
BBC South West still to this day has a sign which dates back to the late 80's/early 90's. It's still / B / B / C / SOUTH WEST up there. Interestingly, in light of what I said above, BBC South West's building (with BBC1 being a national network) is actually nearer central Plymouth (just up the road from Mutley Plain, about a mile away from the city centre) than Westcountry's building (with them being the local face of a regional network), being 5 miles outside Plymouth, and some 7-8 miles away from the city centre.
cwathen
Founding member
Quote:
That was said by SMG when they sold off Queens Cross for millions and moved to an industrial estate (or as they put it "Business Park)!!
I liked Westcountry's description of being based at a 'Science Park', making it sound all futuristic and magical; infact their facility is actually just a small secondary steel building on an unimportant industrial estate 5 miles away from Plymouth (the city that's supposed to be at the heart of their region). That compared to the good old days of Westward/TSW which had a fairly large (for a broadcaster with little network presence) brick built studio complex slap bang in the middle of Plymouth city centre (I walk past the old TSW building on a daily basis; Westcountry's building I have only seen twice, and then only because I have specifically travelled out to see it).
I will say one thing though, Westcountry's building ironically looks nicer with it's Carlton branding than it ever did with their own (there's something about orange and red painted steel that works in a way that blue and grey just doesn't)
(and in all fairness to Westcountry, they did want to establish a prominent new building in central Plymouth, but the TSW legal battle (they didn't know for sure that they had won the franchise until February 1992 - 10 months before they had to start broadcasting) meant they had to scramble for whatever facilities they could get, leading to the industrial estate solution (and the deal for outsourcing transmission to HTV Wales). Had ITV not ended up the way it has it probably was their intention that being based way up at Langage was only intended to be a temporary measure).
Quote:
on the front of the building you can still make out the B B C NW it is that old.
BBC South West still to this day has a sign which dates back to the late 80's/early 90's. It's still / B / B / C / SOUTH WEST up there. Interestingly, in light of what I said above, BBC South West's building (with BBC1 being a national network) is actually nearer central Plymouth (just up the road from Mutley Plain, about a mile away from the city centre) than Westcountry's building (with them being the local face of a regional network), being 5 miles outside Plymouth, and some 7-8 miles away from the city centre.
GA
Gareth
Founding member
I remember reading (in the Manchester Evening News -i think) that New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road, Manchester was going to be completely refurbished similary to Broadcasting House in London with a central courtyard to connect some of the Uni buildings together or something.
It would be intersting to know what the inside of NBH is like, I've been past many a time on the train, does anyone know if you can get a tour?
BBC North West's production always seems to be a mish mash with graphics not lining up e.g. the BBC logo and North West on Inside Out. BBC Manchester's logo always seems to line up except when BBC NW made those two programmes earlier this year which were shown across the North and therefore had a mis aligned BBC Manchester logo.
Gareth
It would be intersting to know what the inside of NBH is like, I've been past many a time on the train, does anyone know if you can get a tour?
BBC North West's production always seems to be a mish mash with graphics not lining up e.g. the BBC logo and North West on Inside Out. BBC Manchester's logo always seems to line up except when BBC NW made those two programmes earlier this year which were shown across the North and therefore had a mis aligned BBC Manchester logo.
Gareth
NG
Well all of the building is still there (I went past it on the train today) but I think they only use Oxford Road for NWT, the religious department and GMR. Though I assume that the religious department takes up a lot of space as they use a studio for heaven and earth show and I think they have a lot of editing facilites for other programmes like Songs Of Praise, I only know this as we did this in RS. Though if they want to make Manchester the home of BBC2, they need to do a big job, though that would really be cool, BBC NW's facilites aren't up to scratch, if you want proof, just watch the ident they playout before NWT. So a good idea to is to upgrade the equipment or move out of Oxford Road. Or give it a big renovation, as said on the front of the building you can still make out the B B C NW it is that old.
BBC Manchester also houses some Network Entertainment and Current Affairs production depts. for both Radio and TV at Oxford Road. BBC Religion moved there from TV Centre (East Tower I think - CBBC got their old offices?) in 1993 - and the large studio didn't close at Oxford Road for ages after this - so I don't think that the studio space will have been given over to Religion (though I may be wrong). As for editing - similar arguments apply - though it wouldn't surprise me if the films for SoP were off-lined out-of-house - with only the online edit and OB bolt together happening in-house (and even that could also be out of house!)
noggin
Founding member
nwtv2003 posted:
noggin posted:
I don't know what the BBC did with their studios at Oxford Road - if they haven't been converted to offices it would be feasible to re-equip?
Well all of the building is still there (I went past it on the train today) but I think they only use Oxford Road for NWT, the religious department and GMR. Though I assume that the religious department takes up a lot of space as they use a studio for heaven and earth show and I think they have a lot of editing facilites for other programmes like Songs Of Praise, I only know this as we did this in RS. Though if they want to make Manchester the home of BBC2, they need to do a big job, though that would really be cool, BBC NW's facilites aren't up to scratch, if you want proof, just watch the ident they playout before NWT. So a good idea to is to upgrade the equipment or move out of Oxford Road. Or give it a big renovation, as said on the front of the building you can still make out the B B C NW it is that old.
BBC Manchester also houses some Network Entertainment and Current Affairs production depts. for both Radio and TV at Oxford Road. BBC Religion moved there from TV Centre (East Tower I think - CBBC got their old offices?) in 1993 - and the large studio didn't close at Oxford Road for ages after this - so I don't think that the studio space will have been given over to Religion (though I may be wrong). As for editing - similar arguments apply - though it wouldn't surprise me if the films for SoP were off-lined out-of-house - with only the online edit and OB bolt together happening in-house (and even that could also be out of house!)
AD
I was amused to see the sign at the BBC North studios in Leeds being fixed last week or the week before since one of the B's hasn't worked since I started uni in Leeds over a year ago. It's exciting watching the development of the new BBC building but I can't help but wonder whether it's been developed more like an office block so that they're able to sell it off as such later.
I remember being rather disappointed with the outside state of BBC North's studios when I first visited Leeds as the building looks a bit grotty and the signs were shocking. The fact that they'd removed the stickers from a black metal sign board, only leaving the semi-circles from the middle of the two B's just looked a bit cheap. Nowhere as nice as the 80s wireframe building the other BBC North occupy in Newcastle!
I remember being rather disappointed with the outside state of BBC North's studios when I first visited Leeds as the building looks a bit grotty and the signs were shocking. The fact that they'd removed the stickers from a black metal sign board, only leaving the semi-circles from the middle of the two B's just looked a bit cheap. Nowhere as nice as the 80s wireframe building the other BBC North occupy in Newcastle!
AS
Errrm, that wasn't done by staff
Why would they do that? IIRC before some vandals scraped off the proper BBC logo it had grafitti on it for a short while.
There's no point replacing the old BBC North logo because, as you quite rightly pointed out, they are moving buildings in the near future...
Adamski posted:
The fact that they'd removed the stickers from a black metal sign board, only leaving the semi-circles from the middle of the two B's just looked a bit cheap.
Errrm, that wasn't done by staff
Why would they do that? IIRC before some vandals scraped off the proper BBC logo it had grafitti on it for a short while.
There's no point replacing the old BBC North logo because, as you quite rightly pointed out, they are moving buildings in the near future...
HU
The trend seems to be to move the station operations to cheaper industrial park locations and turn them into potting sheds which only turn out regional news, whilst network production facilities are more and more being concentrated in London.
I would say Yorkshire is safe for the time being, but in light of the other studio closures I think it's quite on the cards that Anglia's facilities will be sold off within the next couple of years.
I agree with you,and it will be very interesting to see what Granada will do about Border,although they wouldn't get that much for their studios it's not exactly a desirable area to build modern apartments.
Out of the four main studios at Kirkstall Road, one has been converted to a Tape Store, but with the recent opening of the Emmerdale production centre, three other production studios and the Calendar Newscentre as well as the back up facilities for network playouts, I would say that with the age of the building, it was very safe. As part of it's last licence application, YTV purchased the building and freehold of the site. In addition it has kept the Farsley warehouse, which I understand is occassionally used for Heartbeat, The Royal and general rehersals.
Don't forget that YTV and Granada actually merged with a lot of Granada staff being made redundant. It is also sad to say that YTV axed loads of staff at TTTV, therefore protecting itself. If I was sat in Leeds, i'd be feeling very smug with myself.
Lewis c posted:
cwathen posted:
Quote:
Which other centres are at threat? Meridian are mooting leaving their Southampton base, TTTV leaving City Road, Granada leaving Quay Street, someone mentioned that STV might be moving, Grampian have already left Queen's Cross and moved to Craigshaw Business Park, and Carlton's Nottingham Studios have been under threat since Crossroads' demise. So what major studio facilities does that leave? The London Studios, Yorkshire Televison and Anglia.
The trend seems to be to move the station operations to cheaper industrial park locations and turn them into potting sheds which only turn out regional news, whilst network production facilities are more and more being concentrated in London.
I would say Yorkshire is safe for the time being, but in light of the other studio closures I think it's quite on the cards that Anglia's facilities will be sold off within the next couple of years.
I agree with you,and it will be very interesting to see what Granada will do about Border,although they wouldn't get that much for their studios it's not exactly a desirable area to build modern apartments.
Out of the four main studios at Kirkstall Road, one has been converted to a Tape Store, but with the recent opening of the Emmerdale production centre, three other production studios and the Calendar Newscentre as well as the back up facilities for network playouts, I would say that with the age of the building, it was very safe. As part of it's last licence application, YTV purchased the building and freehold of the site. In addition it has kept the Farsley warehouse, which I understand is occassionally used for Heartbeat, The Royal and general rehersals.
Don't forget that YTV and Granada actually merged with a lot of Granada staff being made redundant. It is also sad to say that YTV axed loads of staff at TTTV, therefore protecting itself. If I was sat in Leeds, i'd be feeling very smug with myself.