Nottingham misses out in Channel 4 bid
Nottingham will not become home to Channel 4 after the broadcaster reduced its shortlist of potential locations.
The broadcaster is moving around 300 jobs out of London to a main hub and two smaller creative hubs as part of its Nations and Regions strategy, although its London HQ will remain its dominant site.
Seven locations had been shortlisted for the national headquarters, while an additional six – including Nottingham – were also in consideration for a creative hub.
But Channel 4 has now revealed it will decide between Birmingham, Greater Manchester and Leeds for the main hub while Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow are also in contention for a creative hub.
Jonathan Allan, Channel 4’s chief commercial officer, said: “We have again had to take some very difficult decisions on which cities to take forward to the next stage, but we believe the six cities we have selected are best able to deliver against our vision and requirements for the new National HQ and Creative Hubs.”
Channel 4 plans to announce its final choices in the autumn.
It has said the national headquarters will be placed somewhere with a working population of more than 200,000 people, have a high level of physical and digital connectivity, and a travel time to London that is below three hours.
It has also highlighted five key considerations – demography and diversity, availability of talent, local connectivity, travel links to London and its creative hubs, and the suitability of available office space – that the successful bidder will perform strongly on.
