BBC staff prepare to move to MediaCity
THE first BBC employees to work at the corporation’s new Salford Quays headquarters will begin arriving on Monday.
Around 150, mainly sports department staff, will go through an induction at the new BBC North offices and are expected to be producing web content by the end of the month.
The BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, was in Salford yesterday to showcase the three new buildings.
He said he wanted to dispel some of the “myths” about Salford, referring to the poor reception the move has had in the national Press.
“It’s not a billion pound or £800m project, it’s costing the BBC less than £200m,” he said. “It’s on time and on budget and because of the technology we’re putting into these buildings, operating these facilities and running Salford will save the BBC and licence payers, over time, significant amounts of money.”
He said Salford would enable the BBC to go beyond simply producing programmes but to use its presence to stimulate economic growth.
He added: “It’s also a template for a new idea of what the BBC can be – a BBC that is state-of-the-art and cross platform; less hierarchical, more flexible and more open and – even more than we do today – put excellence and creativity first.”
The BBC is moving Radio 5 live, BBC Breakfast, sport, children’s and the jobs based at the BBC in Manchester to the new site. Some 2,300 posts are moving with 55% of staff in London agreeing to relocate. A further 2,500 BBC staff not working in these departments have expressed an interest in the move.
The BBC said the total set up cost has come in at £189.3m with £86.5m spent on relocation, recruitment, training and redundancy. Peter Salmon, director of BBC North, said he hoped to pay this debt back to the “corporate BBC” in 15 years, rather than 20, by “sweating the assets and sharing overheads”.
The National Audit Office has estimated the total running costs over the next 20
years, including rent to the landlord Peel Holdings, will top £877m, or £43m a year, but the BBC expects this figure to be lower and Mr Thompson said it was still cheaper than renovating existing facilities in London.
He added: “In 20 years the BBC will be run by people who cut their teeth in Salford.”
Among the shows to move to Salford are Football Focus and Match of the Day which will start production at MediaCity later in the year. The largest studio, the 10,000 sq ft HQ1, pictured right, will host BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the winter.
