Reality check

Rowan Moore of The Observer is painfully acute in his architectural analysis of MediaCityUK, in today's edition.  The bit that's missing is the change between the "dream" the BBC governors and management were sold by Peel and Salford bid team, and the (current) product.  The basic shapes of the buildings you see now were all in the masterplan the BBC bought; what got sandpapered between artist's visualisation and construction was the p-zazz than might have made the "Costa-space" something remarkable.  So now there are no "pods" in the dock. No jaunty angles to the buildings.  No direct walkway to the Lowry, through sci-fi structures. No shops in waterside pavilions.  No 5-storey high signage. No neon, but plenty of LCD pin-lights.  A one-storey tv screen on stilts is to come - a poor return on investment.