ITV completes MediaCity move
ITV Granada has completed its move from Quay Street to MediaCityUK in Salford.
Over the past six months 500 staff have relocated including departments such as CITV, factual, entertainment, drama, The Jeremy Kyle show and various business support services.
The last to move was the regional news show Granada Reports which will broadcast from the new studio for the first time today.
Coronation Street is still at Quay Street, but will move to a purpose built set next to the Imperial War Musuem at a “later date”.
The broadcaster has taken 62,000 sq ft at the Orange Tower, across the square from the BBC’s buildings. The interior has been designed by Sheppard Robson’s ID:SR with the fit-out handled by Overbury’s Manchester office. ITV has put the cost of the move, including the construction of a new Coronation Street set, at £45m.
Chief executive Adam Crozier said: “Our move to a new, modern, fit for purpose base in MediaCityUK is vital in enabling us to focus on growing our national and international production and broadcasting business.
“We have been the biggest original content provider in the region for over half a century. Joining this creative hub outside of London, ensures the region is not only an important part of ITV’s history, it’s also a hugely important part of our future.”
Move director, Jon Huddleston, said: “Imaginative interior design, efficient space lay-out and improvements in technology have all combined to create the creative and collaborative office space that we were seeking to achieve.
“The Orange Tower is now a flagship for ITV’s operations. Core to our thinking was to ensure that our space reflected the fact that we are a TV company – making the stunning “glass-box” newsroom a centre-piece was a massively important element of achieving this vision.”
In March 2012 Manchester City Council endorsed an ITV development plan which included the potential for a visitor attraction based around the Coronation Street set, new Grade A office buildings on Quay St facing Spinningfields, the redevelopment of Granada House to provide cheaper Grade B space, and the extension of John Street to create a potential “Harley Street of the North”.
A joint venture between Chelsfield and Manchester-based Genr8 was the preferred bidder to buy the 14-acre Quay Street site, but this is understood to have fallen through. Talks with other bidders including Ikea subsidiary Landprop and sustainable developer The Bion Group are thought to have resumed.
