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.

One is moving

I'm grateful to @mattbakerfans and TVForum for news that The One Show is heading out of White City and into Broadcasting House.

BBC submit planning application for #theoneshow to move to Broadcasting House in Westminster during 2013: tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/broadca….
— Matt Baker Fans (@mattbakerfans) January 29, 2013

The plans include using the studio, which overlooks the piazza at the heart of the development, for "educational" purposes during the day - and when it comes to show time, a semi-circle of barriers will be in place to stop the inevitable face-pulling and "Hi Mum" signs getting too close to the studio windows.  Main pictures below borrowed from the application documents...

How it might look...

A visualisation of the future? No architect was involved, as you can probably tell...

Taking the strain

Peter Salmon has just published a range of BBC documents which, heavily edited, represent "the risks" of moving to MediaCityUK, and what was being done to mitigate them. They come in response to an FOI inquiry on WhatDoTheyKnow. The extracts offer a marvellous amalgam of Birt-speak and Project B*ll*cks. For real fans of this genre, get the full pdf, rich in colour-coding and blame avoidance.

Here's a couple of my instant favourites - this from 2009.

Prioritising major projects
In response to the increasing organisational strain, a small team within the BBC initiated the evaluation of projects and made recommendations about the ranking and priorities. This was based on objective criteria, including (a) The BBC’s public commitment (b) the strategic importance
to delivery of purposes and efficiency targets (c) total Investment and value/cost over LF period and, (d) organisational strain caused by the project.


As an outcome of this exercise projects were grouped in four categories:


a. Must Do projects;
b. Projects in delivery;
c. Middle League projects;
d. Bottom League projects.


These groupings and priorities were reviewed and agreed by the BDG. The projects within the “Must Do” category are as follows:


 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 BBC North
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 xxxxxxx


The aim of agreeing which are the “Must-Do” projects is to ensure they are the priorities for all Divisions, thus focussing resource, time and attention on making these projects safe, and providing clear leadership and accountability.


A Head of pan-BBC Programme Management Office is now being recruited, charged specifically with supporting the “Must Do" projects, providing visibility of the whole portfolio to the Executive, and sharing best practice, and, potentially, resources across the projects. We also believe a judicious additional investment in change and project management capability is likely to be required to deliver the Must-Do projects ahead of time so that the chances of failure on multiple projects are minimised.

In 2010 another document makes this oblique reference, presumably to some PSYOPS practices in HR.

‘Carrot and stick’ [departmental] approaches to increase redeployment signed off by BDG in June 2010. 


Enjoy.

And now, from Television Centre, live football

The rumour that QPR might built a new stadium on land that is currently part of the BBC Television Centre site has surfaced in the press.  BBC insiders have been hinting at discussions with Bernie Ecclestone for some time, but The Independent puts more flesh on the proposal.

In planning and business terms, the idea has some big obstacles.  If the TV Centre site is re-developed to provide offices, shops and residential, as well as a stadium, would enough buyers be prepared to move in that close to a football ground ? (Arsenal's Emirates development suggests it can be done with flats at least).  If the TV Centre site is re-developed, who on earth would buy QPR's South Africa Road ground, and at what price ?  And if the TV Centre site has a 35,000 seat stadium at its heart, how does that qualify the development as a Creative Quarter ? 

Big shed news

It used to be an Argos warehouse near the Trafford Centre; then this year it became the Museum of Museums, a "private cultural enterprise by the Peel Group", a free family visitor attraction; from next year it's an exhibition centre, EventCity, making money and competing with other venues across the north of England.  All fine with D1 planning permission....

The first booking is by Great Days Out, who used to have their event for group travel bookers at the Bolton Arena. Manchester Central, formerly GMex, must also be worried. EventCity offers 375,000 sq ft, compared with their 115,000 sq ft. Peel's Mike Butterworth told Manchester Confidential "We’ll be cheaper than Manchester Central, although I can’t say by how much.”

Bingo ?

A planning application with very little detail has been lodged on behalf of Peel Media for part of the Pie Factory (aka Freshbake Foods) at MediacityUK.

They want to change some of the space currently classified as B1 offices [Offices (other than those that fall within A2), research and development of products and processes, light industry appropriate in a residential area] to D2 Assembly and leisure - Cinemas, music and concert halls, bingo and dance halls (but not night clubs), swimming baths, skating rinks, gymnasiums or area for indoor or outdoor sports and recreations (except for motor sports, or where firearms are used).

What can it be ?

The pace of change

During my journalistic career at the BBC, I was also associated with a range of failed building projects. A Norman Foster scheme for a radio centre on the site of the Langham Hotel, and an RHWL scheme, in two phases, for a news centre and radio centre at White City were the "highlights". The most recent and probably the most unlikely has succeeded; the completed redevelopment of Broadcasting House will be handed over to the BBC soon.

During the design work on these schemes, I tried to educate myself about the best of the British architecture and construction. The most influential buildings at the time of the first White City development (in the late 80s) were Arup's initial contributions to the Broadgate scheme. We tried not to be influenced by the later SOM blocks, but were fascinated by their construction techniques.

Now the talk is of demolition of part of Broadgate, for a new scheme by Make for UBS. I commend Amanda Baillieu's thoughts on the issue, which also take a swipe at Wirral Waters.

Mission impossible

The Salford Star reports a possible brouhaha over plans for the Oasis Academy MediaCityUK - plans which require the demolition of the empty, yet locally-listed, Salford Central Mission.

Despite the Gove cuts, this academy, driven by media-friendly, sponsorship-heavy minister Steve Chalke, seems to be secure in its funding. What WILL the planners do ?

Downpipes

My favourite extant quango, CABE, remains unconvinced by the detailed design of the mangled metal tower proposed by Anish Kapoor for the Olympics site in Stratford. It says planning permission should not be granted until some basics are sorted. The (so far undrawn) buildings at the bottom need to include machinery to drive the lifts (and presumably sell tickets to queuing hordes); the pipe work needs to sort out how the wc's on the upper platforms will part with their waste; and CABE don't like the way the glass and mirrors round the viewing platforms are detailed.

I'm still waiting for the BBC to announce they're wedging in their infamous "portable" glass studio somewhere near the top.

Dosh dished

The impending demise of the NWDA has produced one interesting item - a list of the projects they were considering part-funding, and now can't. It's extraordinary what the word "development" allowed the agency to contemplate. A full list can been found at Place North West.

English Half Marathon
Trafford Park Masterplan (surely that's a developer's job ?)
National Football Museum, URBIS
Regional Aero Park - Samlesbury - Phase II
St Annes public realm - Open Golf 2012
Manchester Ship Canal Aeration, Salford Quays (does lack of funding mean it'll pong near MediaCityUK ?)
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Arts Project
Trinity Mirror Transformation Project (I thought they were making money now...)

There's something of a medieval court here, considering petitions from the poor burghers, and graciously handing out groats. Probably time it was done differently.

Come and get me

Getting a development underway is a long slog - but if you're trying to sell sites, rather than buy, a certain amount of re-invention can be required to get a good price. So the feature about the sale of Television Centre in today's Guardian is about concept, hope and expectation, rather than a tangible deal.

As long ago as 2005, the BBC and others started work on a White City strategy, realising that by combining sites, a rather grim part of west London might acquire a greater investment value - spurred on by building work on the Westfield Shopping Centre to the south (original planned completion - 1994 !). The development "opportunity", over 42 acres, was slightly bigger than King's Cross, and smaller than Stratford. And that scale needs a brave developer, or a brave consortium of developers to see a potential profit.

So, working with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, Rem Koolhaas was brought in to develop a masterplan that might appeal (Building). In 2008 the masterplan was floated as "Creative London" (Building Design). Today, BBC property boss, Chris Kane, puts some more flesh on how the Television Centre bit of it might work. The overall scheme seems slightly scaled down - 23 acres, and now a "Creative Quarter". But it might be more appealing now Westfield and its improved transport links are actually working.

"The thinking was we couldn't just sell this and leave it to the vagaries of the property market. My worst fear is that it would be sold and end up like Battersea Power Station. It has to be something different".

Toothkind

Planning change at MediaCityUK - Peel Media are asking for one less shop, to be replaced by 156m2 of dental surgery.

Office competition

English Cities Fund has been given planning approval for a huge redevelopment in Salford - 849 homes, 390 hotel rooms, 250,000 sq ft of retail and leisure, and 2m sq ft of office space, reports Place. As one commenter says on the site, "be hilarious if they build and fill 2m sq ft of offices before another company signs at MediaCity...". Commenter's sign in: Yosueme.

Market news

Relations between local councils, central government and Tesco over planning issues are quite often tense. Property Week reports a new row in Liverpool. Sir Terry Leahy is still presumably miffed about decisions that blocked his superstore-come-football-ground for Everton FC in Kirkby.

Meanwhile Jeremy Hunt MP (Tory media guru) is still waiting to see what impact his "concern" will have on a proposed Tesco Express in Milford, near Godalming.