White City Place

51°30′50″N 0°13′36″W / 51.51389°N 0.22667°W / 51.51389; -0.22667

BBC White City, also known as the BBC Media Village (or W12 within the BBC), is a collection of six buildings occupying a 17-acre site at Wood Lane, White City in West London (W12). All formerly properties of the BBC, several have now closed, with only Broadcast Centre and the Lighthouse currently occupied by BBC staff. The site is a short distance down Wood Lane from the former BBC Television Centre.

History

The first building on the site, White City One, was opened in 1990, located on the site of the Franco-British exhibition, including the former White City Stadium and various other venues used for the 1908 Summer Olympics site (parts of the swimming pool were discovered when the foundations were laid).^[2]

The second phase of the Media Village opened in 2004 consisting of five further buildings in addition to White City One - Media Centre, Broadcast Centre, Energy Centre, Garden House and the Lighthouse.^[3] The buildings were designed by Allies and Morrison Architects and Buro Happold and built by Bovis Lend Lease. In addition to BBC offices, the site includes a number of shops, bars and other retail outlets.^[3]^[1]

A further planned building, the Music Box, designed by Foreign Office Architects was scheduled for opening in 2006, but was cancelled before construction began. It would have been a concert hall and recording venue for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers.^[4]^[1]

Occupants

White City One housed most of the BBC's current affairs and factual and learning programmes, such as Panorama, Top Gear, Watchdog, Children in Need and many others. White City One was vacated in March 2013 and the building sold to developers.^[5]

The Media Centre was the global headquarters for the BBC's for-profit publishing subsidiary BBC Worldwide, various administrative segments and BBC Television departments moved there following the closure of Television Centre in 2013. Media Centre and Garden House were closed on 10 July 2015.^[6]^[7]

Broadcast Centre continues to house BBC digital and technology staff, Television production staff, Marketing and Audiences staff and Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services (formerly Red Bee Media)'s digital television broadcast facilities. The Energy Centre provides services to the entire site, and from early 2008 became home to the production team of Top Gear and the Top Gear magazine team. The One Show studio was located in the Energy Centre from 2007 to 2013 before moving to the newly-built Peel Wing of Broadcasting House.^[8]

Closure

The BBC have sold the majority of buildings on the site and it has been announced that Media Village will be renamed White City Place by new owners Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan.^[9]^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c BBC Media Village White City, BBC Press pack 5 May 2004
^ "BBC buildings". BBC History. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2007.
^ ^a ^b New BBC Media Village opens tomorrow BBC Press Office, 11 May 2004
^ The BBC Music Box, openbuildings.com, URL accessed 7 May 2016
^ Errtibi, Rachid (28 March 2013). "Closure of the White City building". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
^ "Goodbye to Media Centre after 11 years". BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b Andrew Fullerton Media Centre, London: first in, last out, BBC blogs, 10 July 2015
^ Richard Porter, And On That Bombshell: Inside the Madness and Genius of Top Gear (Orion, 2015)
^ "BBC move continues after £87m deal for Media Village". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

[presspack-1] BBC Media Village White City, BBC Press pack 5 May 2004

[2] "BBC buildings". BBC History. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2007.

[press2004-3] New BBC Media Village opens tomorrow BBC Press Office, 11 May 2004

[4] The BBC Music Box, openbuildings.com, URL accessed 7 May 2016

[whitecity-5] Errtibi, Rachid (28 March 2013). "Closure of the White City building". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2013.

[6] "Goodbye to Media Centre after 11 years". BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

[fullerton-7] Andrew Fullerton Media Centre, London: first in, last out, BBC blogs, 10 July 2015

[8] Richard Porter, And On That Bombshell: Inside the Madness and Genius of Top Gear (Orion, 2015)

[9] "BBC move continues after £87m deal for Media Village". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

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