Loft conversion

The BBC seems to have got a taste for this development lark. It has just invited tenders for a mixed-use redevelopment of its ageing, leak-prone Maida Vale studios. Which, it hopes, will pay for itself: It is anticipated that shortlisted applicants will provide outline proposals that will provide for a mixed use development on the site to include the BBC’s studio requirements such that the value generated meets or is greater than the cost of the providing the new or refurbished studio building to a fully serviced shell and core basis.

I think this is code for "use some of the site for flats" - prices for old fashioned flats in Delaware Road are healthily above £500,000, so Lord knows what a new ritzy one might fetch in a couple of years. And with neighbours like the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Radio 1 recording studios...