Terminal

Almost since the start, this blog has been tracking Taffia efforts to secure a new HQ for BBC Wales. According to Wales Online, a move to Cardiff Bus Station will be announced tomorrow.

The bus station (featured in Dr Who) will have to move to allow the development, nestling 'twixt the railway station and the Millennium Stadium.

Wales Online puts the cost at £170m. It'll need some scrutiny. The Taffia hope to raise £26m from their Llandaff and Ty Oldfield freeholds - no news of a purchaser as I write, so this become a fire sale. There was talk of the new home being on a 20-year lease, rather than the 30 years used by previously by other BBC schemes. On that calculation, the deal is costing £8.5m a year. Say it quick - it's for around 800 staff (pre cuts to reach DQF targets). Does the price also include include new kit and new studios ?

Timber !

I'm expecting an outbreak of WOOD when tweaks to the proposed re-design of Television Centre are unveiled at a public exhibition later today.

The council planning committee have asked for more evidence of sustainability; and, lo and behold, a new practice has joined the design team. DRMM, led by Alex De Rijke, specialise in engineered timber, and Alex, who is also Dean of the Royal College of Architecture, has led development of cross-laminated timber panel construction.

Double your money

Students of property development may be interested in the future for the old Radio Times/BBC London/BBC Training/BBC Trust building at 35 Marylebone High Street. The BBC finally got out in 2011, and claimed to be "saving" (i.e. not paying) £300m over the remaining years of its lease. The head lease was then owned by Conegate, the property vehicle of West Ham co-owner David Sullivan, who started out in real estate attempting to own a "Private" sex shop in every UK town.

As the BBC left, Conegate sold their 999-year lease to Scottish Widows Investment Partnership for £32.3m.

In June last year SWIP won planning consent allowing a change of use for the office space to residential (Cheers, Mr Cameron) with a scheme by posh architects Dixon Jones. The ground floor will stay retail, but the rest of the site becomes 19 flats and five townhouses - none of them "affordable", but there's a cash commitment of £8.7m to Westminster. The development is to be called "Marylebone Gardens".  Yesterday the site was sold to Ken Parker's Royalton property developers for £75m.

Conservatively, 19 flats, at, say £5m each, and five town-houses at, say £9m, could bring £140m - however complex the construction, plenty of room for a nice Royalton profit.

As good as a rubber factory - if not better

Could heritage, beloved of the Welsh, yet stand in the way of the BBC Wales building society ? The Taffia have long dreamed of a new headquarters in Cardiff, to match that of the Scots at Pacific Quay. But money is tight, and they need to max the value of the site they want to leave, at Llandaff.

Now, the great and the good of Cadw ("protect", "guard", "save", "preserve") have been asked to list it - something that scares off developers. It was designed by Dale Owen (1924-1997) of the Percy Thomas Partnership, and opened in 1966. Dale studied in the States under Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school, and is said to have taken pleasure in getting BBC penny-pinchers to buy real Mies van der Rohe chairs for the reception area.

Henrietta Billings of the Twentieth Century Society tells Building Design: “Broadcasting House is one of Wales’s most outstanding and important modernist buildings, and one of the best remaining examples of this highly significant Welsh architectural practice.”

Professor Judi Loach of Cardiff University chimes in: “This is the outstanding modernist building of the post-war era in Cardiff and indeed one of the very few in Wales that can stand comparison with first rate architecture abroad.

“This is the most significant 20th-century building to be threatened in Wales since the loss of the grade II* listed rubber factory in Brynmawr, south Wales built 1946-51, demolished in 2001.”

Go East

I hope this isn't market sensitive, but John Tate, former Director of Strategy at the BBC - and Chairman of the commercial subsidiary BBC Studios and Post-production - has left the building.

There clearly wasn't long-term room for John after the appointment of James Purnell, so John was graciously given a "project" rather than payment in lieu of notice (unloved by the PAC) as he looked for new opportunities. One has emerged in the east, and John is now Chief Operating Officer at Tamkeen, an investment and project management company of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Executive Affairs Authority.

But who is the new Chairman of BBC Studios and Post-production - a job which earned John £80k p.a.? The website currently shows three non-executive directors - the lovely Daniel Danker, a former BBC boss of on-demand, now with Shazam; the already-very well-paid-and-presumably-quite-busy Dominic Coles, Director of Operations; and we'll-never know-quite-how-much-he's-paid, Alan Yentob, Creative Director, presenter and pensioner.

• CEO of Tamkeen is Jason Harborow, former chief executive of the Liverpool Culture Company, a job which didn't end well. Jason is also a volunteer touch rugby coach at New York University Abu Dhabi. He has imposed style on Tamkeen, as this extract from a blog post by graphic design student Benny Lu shows...

Managing director Jason Harborow invited us to tour around Tamkeen’s working space and to breathe in their working atmosphere. The whole office shared a common set of theme colors, which was green, dark grey and white—adequately synchronized with the logo we encountered upon arrival. Mr. Harborow insisted that everything in the office had to share the fundamental elements of their brand identity; for instance, the walls, the patterns on the glass vitrines that enclosed the meeting rooms, the writing pad, the drinking glasses, the rollerball pens, their new working desk arrangements, dress codes, and the USBs that contained our brief from Tamkeen.....

Mr. Harborow shared his insight into developing a successful brand by introducing projects he directed, including Liverpool: European Capital of Culture in 2008, Surrey Sports Park and Tamkeen. By presenting these projects of different scales and properties, he gave us the principles and visions a brand designer should be equipped with. I was most fascinated by the renewal of Liverpool. Mr. Harborow believed that this city required an “attractor brand” to invigorate its economic recession, and also took the initiative to revive Liverpool while competing for the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The exposure effect of the logo they designed resulted in the wide endorsement of the city. Yet the key that led to this success seemed to lie in the appropriate management of the Pareto Principle. Also called the 80/20 Rule, the Pareto Principle states that around 80% of the effect comes from approximately 20% of the cause. Instead of fine-tuning every detail of Liverpool’s specialties, Mr. Harborow’s team simply focused on Beatles, who were world renowned, and Liverpool FC, which can agglomerate the morale of the local people. This decision led to a massive success while taking into account the resources available. 

Talc

Here's a fly-around of the redevelopment of Television Centre. No interiors, no music and largely designed to show impact of the ziggurats of new housing on neighbours. It stops and starts a bit, and fades to grey as if everything is coated in volcanic ash, but is strangely soothing, and may be interesting if you live nearby.....

Upgraded exterior filming resource

See, if, say, Sid Hardball was one of Lord Hall's new no-nonsense non-executives, EastEnders luvvie Dominic Treadwell-Collins would have got nowhere with his new outdoor set strategy.

Sid: Let's be clear - you want a new outdoor set, yet you also want a full-scale temporary set for two years, while you muck about with the one that's served you ok for close to 30 years. What's the problem here ? Isn't the East End supposed to be run down ?

DTC:  We need a set that's 20% bigger to enable greater editorial ambition and improve working conditions for staff. Crucially, it will provide a greater sense of scale with more locations for our characters to spend time in, opening up new areas and opportunities that haven’t been possible before – all of which are in the best interest of our viewers.

Sid: And do you have a dossier of complaints from viewers that there aren't enough outdoor scenes ?  Was that a "no" ? Have you visited the East End recently ? Have you heard of "urban renewal", maybe seen a few building sites, eh ? Wouldn't a cost-conscious producer like you see the benefit of a few storylines that get the scaffolding in ? Developers, new social housing, chip-pan fires, Victorian sewer collapses, that sort of thing...

DTC: The BBC is currently exploring legacy options for the long-term use of the temporary set including visitor tours and educational opportunities.

Sid: So people are going to pay to see a set that's no longer the real EastEnders set ? Gimme a break. How much is this costing ?

DTC: We have an independent review which has highlighted the importance of the show to audiences and to the BBC as a whole, and supports investment in the exterior lot.

Sid: OK mate, but I'm not going in front of Ma Hodge on this one..It's your call, Lord Hall. Next case, Ms Bulford.

Me too

The transcript of a Stormont committee session at the end of November, with BBC NI Director Peter Johnston, reveals that the new building urge is upon them, too.  BBC Northern Ireland has apparently made it onto a "pan-BBC priority list for capital and development".

Here's his words. "A study of our needs fleshed out what we need, and, as part of that, we did a first pass survey of the sort of sites that might be suitable should moving be the best option. A lot of the sums suggest that one of the most efficient ways to fix everything would be to move. There were close to 20 possible sites around Belfast city centre.

"If and when we get the go-ahead to consider a move, we would go into an open process of tender, which would consider a range of site location options. Off the top of my head, having seen some of the emerging analysis, I know that there are at least five possibilities. Everyone seems to obsess about the Titanic Quarter, partly because the studios are there, which is another factor. No law says that the BBC cannot try to use those studios as well, which is, potentially, good. We would be looking for a central, neutral and accessible site. We have always benefited from a good location, as I hope that you all agree. Our colleagues in Scotland and Wales have always had more peripheral locations. We have a good, central location, and we want to maintain that. We have not yet made a decision, but, when we do, it will be fair and objective".

Dim tacsi

The dai is cast. Rhodri The Builder and the rest of the BBC Wales team can do no more. (Cue irritating drum beat)  The final decision rests with the BBC Executive and the BBC Trust.

The short list for a new HQ for BBC Wales is down to three. As expected, there's one posh-ish Waterside site in Cardiff Bay, next to the politicians; the other two are decidedly less glam, one to the north and one to the south of the main rail station.

Rhodri Talfan Davies has shared the news, because now, frankly, the decision is down to price for a 30-year tenancy - and it would be odd for the BBC not to choose the cheapest. Particularly when there's no news of buyers for the Llandaff site.

Maybe in the business case, they can put some reduced expenses in the "costs avoided" section. There should be no taxis to and from the station in the second two options. Rhodri knocked up a healthy £5641.28 in the first reported quarter of this year for travel, accommodation and entertainment - with no flights.

Please cover up

QPR's plans for a new stadium and ma-hoosive development at Old Oak, north of the Westway and close to what's left of Wormwood Scrubs, looks like a smart move. They've already got strategic control of 100 acres, the support of Hammersmith and Fulham, the GLA - and the fixing skills of Antony Spencer, who advised Arsenal in the development of the Emirates, and is also helping Brentford with their plans for a new ground.

Public transport ought to be a doddle - accessible from North Acton, Willesden Green, and, probably, the proposed CrossRail/HS2 interchange at Old Oak Common. Some may even arrive by canal boat, with the development running alongside the Grand Union Canal. Altogether a much better idea than a once-mooted move to a tiny parcel of land south of Television Centre on Wood Lane.

But please, can we please consider a stadium with a retractable roof ?  Modern Desso-style pitches are getting better and stronger, and clubs need to look at getting more use out of their investments. A roof should enable more varied events - and less disruption when they are pop concerts.

A new horizon...

The new set for Coronation Street at MediacityUK may look the same as the old one - but they're going to have to watch the skyline shots.

Dead snake

Maybe there is some aspect of Islington trying to stay classy. The Rattlesnake Live Bar and Kitchen is no more, after 15 months. Presumably the costs of a refurbishment and rebrand will be passed on to the customers of Cabana, "bringing London's best Brasilian Barbecue to Islington's vibrant restaurant scene".

Cabana is part of the Sweet Potato Group, run by lawyer-turned-restauranteur Jamie Barber, one-time own of BBC Trust favourite, Villandry.

Programme notes

Congratulations to former BBC colleagues who've won "Programme of The Year" (not something you see on the telly, more what we used to call a project) for the second phase of the redevelopment of Broadcasting House, and its occupation. As I remember, there were a range of strong women involved from the start of this endeavour, but clearly they were otherwise engaged on this particular evening.  The BBC team fended off fierce opposition from those who built additional platforms at Reading Station, and those attempting to modernise Royal Mail services in London.

Accepting the trophy at the London Hilton on Park Lane, BBC director of operations, Dominic Coles (total package £307,800) said: “Winning this prestigious award is a significant achievement for the BBC. It recognises both the skills and hard work of the project team involved, and the collaborative approach of the many areas of the BBC who successfully came together to support the delivery of this major project.”

Bar

The news that Nick Jones (Mr Kirsty Young) of Soho House is in talks with Television Centre developers Stanhope about the possibility of a club with rooftop pool and 50 bedrooms on the inner ring of the building sets the mind buzzing.

Will the old Television Centre Club be reborn ?  And in which incarnation ?  Surely not as it was left last year - faux-Hoxton wooden (simulated) floors, daft leatherette booths, and a counter selling jacket potatoes ? The ambience of a motorway service station, blended with a football pub, where cocky waiters stack lager glasses fifty-high, and then drop them to the whinnying of a crowd of bored IT engineers and returning pensioners ?

Pic from Tony Scott

No, surely they'll aim for the early seventies - BBC-branded Jubilee champagne; Tantine (Auntie) and Sans Fil (Wireless) wine; Ruddles County and Ringnes Lager on draught. Jacket potatoes confined to a glazed, separate, cafe; a small lounge bar, "owned" by News and Light Entertainment, and a huge standing area, packed on Top of The Pops' nights, by lonely men hoping for a glance of Pan's People.

That, and a pool on the terrace outside - a winner.

More menus

Yet more food options on the way at MediaCityUK. Next month, Penelope's Kitchen will open in The Pie Factory, brought to you by the people who make Penelope's Ice Cream in Spinningfields, and who operate

burger-bar-in-a-container DockGrill on the piazza. Penelope's Kitchen, a New York-inspired diner, comes with support from The Prince's Trust.

Meanwhile, Peel would like to remind you investors out there that it has (at least) five sites at MediaCityUK with ready-made designs and planning permission just waiting for you to sign a cheque....

Dai the Builder

The me-too-ism that has been a feature of the BBC's Celtic/national regions continued yesterday, with the news that the Taffia seek to move out of their Llandaff HQ by 2018. This campaign has been going on since 2007 - when Pacific Quay opened in Glasgow. The Welsh have still to produce a satisfactory financial strategy to deliver their significant ambitions (after six years of train journeys en masse to BBC Finance Committees) and, this time, by shroud-waving the infrastructure frailties of Llandaff, ensured a fire sale that will reduce the capital pot even further. (When will someone spot that Television Centre and New Broadcasting House Manchester were sold at a loss in any rational view of budgeting ?)

So the Welsh will be tied into a developer-led anchor tenant vanity scheme, funded by some PFI-variant bond deal, with a smidgeon of Welsh Assembly/EU support, tying their hands for 30 years, with no means of building capital for an alternative future. And the obvious answer, to refurbish an existing building, will be avoided. The we-must-have-a-new-building aspirations of BBC Northern Ireland cannot be far behind.

• You may have missed that, within a senior management pay freeze, Controller BBC Wales, Rhodri Talfan-Davies got a rise of more than 14% in April, taking his salary from £140k to £160k. 

Below stairs

Lend Lease have been appointed to refurbish Stage 6 of Television Centre, as a new home for BBC Worldwide. Stage 6 used to be the bi-media home of news, with the curved reception fronting on to Wood Lane.

It's an eighteen-month contract, and there's clearly a little bashing around of the structure required: "The main feature of the project will be a new lightwell, with a bespoke ribbon-like staircase running through the middle of the building". Ah, how those worldwide creatives love that bespoke, ritzy look. Does Lord Patten know ?

Praise indeed

"Pretty damn near seamless" says John Humphrys.

Downsizing

The BBC is having some trouble with hearts and minds these days. Despite some years of preparing the (intellectual) ground, the case for the move out of Television Centre is being picked at by combative former technical staff and talent alike. It started with the BBC's own "farewell" programmes, and stars lamenting the old days, when they could get a new series commissioned in a toilet break; and now continues over the issue of only retaining 3 of the 8 major tv studios in the redevelopment of the site.

Let's review some of the arguments. The old days of commissioners sitting alongside actual programme-making every day are long gone. More and more BBC shows are made by indies, in studios of their choosing. More and more BBC shows are made in the Drama Village in Cardiff. I'll bet my pants Lord Hall likes classic costume drama - so there'll be more and more location work. There's a major BBC contract committing to use of the tv studios at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. One day, maybe, Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow will work at capacity - the BBC will want to look busy in the run-up to the independence vote. The One Show, which disdained Television Centre for a converted office in White City, is moving to Broadcasting House. In Lord Hall's in-tray is a proposal to send a further 1,000 staff to Salford; and James Purnell has been given the task of finding something to do with the half-empty BBC offices and production space at the Mailbox in Birmingham. The new commissioners are in the "Sanderson Suite" on the 6th floor of Broadcasting House. Even Alan Yentob is parking his Brompton in the building.

Is the BBC retaining the right number of studios ? Who knows, but somebody has done calculations which will have been based on forecast demand, signed off by people at the top of BBC Vision - not only that the BBC can cope in the long-term, but during the three years of redevelopment.  There will be no black screens. Maybe studios 4 to 8 were getting work up to the end - but quite a lot of that was for shows for other networks - Deal or No Deal, Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Eight out of Ten Cats, The Jonathan Ross Show and more.

Some of the campaigners claim that the licence-fee paying public "owns" Studios 4 to 8, having funded them over the years. By the same odd logic, tax-payers own a lot of old hospitals, crumbling schools and forgotten roads. Selling the site was the only option, and brokering a development deal wasn't a bad idea. The income from the sale is piffling; the BBC gets £200m. The real win for Auntie is removing the annual costs of running a 14-acre site, with monster power, maintenance and security issues. Downsizing is a much more important part of making budget cuts than most past and current staff want to recognise - and getting the balance right between output, technical facilities and staff will help preserve the jobs of programme-makers, which is what we all want.

Towering

New visuals for Television Centre have been released by developer Stanhope, ahead of a detailed planning application in May. The mixed-use development by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, working alongside Duggan Morris, HOK and Maccreanor Lavington includes offices, shops, studio space for the BBC, leisure facilities, a hotel and 1,000 new homes.

The big change is "re-positioning" the ugly old East Tower. They actually mean knocking the old one down, but building something nicer, the same size, almost on Wood Lane. Will that wash with the Council ? If nothing else, it'll cast a giant shadow on the TC forecourt from midday on...