BBC gets keys to MediaCity

THE first of three buildings at MediaCity in Salford will be handed over to the BBC on Monday.

Construction company Bovis Lend Lease will give the BBC its keys to what is currently known as building ‘C’, which will be home to radio station 5 Live and BBC Sport.

The move in date was revealed last night at an event by urban regeneration company Central Salford.

It was also announced that the residential tower behind that building will be ready for people to move in from March 2010, and that the new MediaCity Metrolink station will be up and running by June.

Chris Farrow, chief executive of Central Salford URC, said:  “It’s a myth that regeneration takes a lifetime. We don’t buy into that – it makes a change every day.

“There are 221 new apprenticeships that wouldn’t have a happened were it not for MediaCity so we are not waiting for it to come along, these things are happening as we speak.”

When it comes to the wider generation of Salford and projects such as Chapel Street , Greengate and Irwell City Park, the URC’s £4bn private sector led business plan is still intact, according to Salford Central chairman Felicity Goodey.

But she did ask a panel of speakers how regeneration and development could be moved forward in a climate with little access to funding.

Matt Crompton, managing director of Muse Developments and a board director of the English Cities Fund which is working on the 22.5 acre Chapel Street redevelopment, told the audience it was about timing.

“Now is a great time to be doing what we and Ask are doing. We are using this moribund market to move our plans. Timing is important.

“As long as we are advancing at the right pace and are not using the market as an excuse not to bring the master plan forward, then we are not wasting time.

“It means we have time to find the right partners and make the scheme best in class, so when it comes to it we are ready. But the market will come back, that’s an absolute fact.”

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