h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The whole of BBC new media is moving office - probably in October 2004 to our new building in White City.

I've just seen a press release saying:

The BBC's new Media Village at White City in London will be officially opened tomorrow evening, Wednesday 12 May, by Jonathan Ross.

Ooo! You can see some pretty pics of the new building here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/05_may/11/media_village.shtml

I'd still prefer to be based here in Covent Garden though.

Wow!

I don't know if I could work in a posh environment like that. I much prefer my dingy beige cave...

Hi Jimi!

It's open plan. It could be good, it could be hell on earth!

The area it's based in, White City, is in the West of London in the middle of nowhere. Covent Garden is one of the key social and shopping spots in London. We'll be swapping cappucinos for kebabs. Oh well...

The portcullis sounds cool! Not sure about hundreds of tiny soldiers getting underfoot though. I wonder if there is a drawbridge?

The new place is smart, but seems weird when you consider that BBC Birmingham (regional TV, local radio, and 750 office workers) is moving from a horrible building (Pebble Mill) in leafy Edgbaston to the Mailbox in the centre of Birmingham (within spitting distance of New Street Station and the Bullring).

However, I've seen some promotional shots and mention of the buildings in the Telegraph and it does look really good (although you *will* all be subject to an environment designed to allow (and effectively promote) communication between offices in person. Still it's a cool place. In Birmingham, they're trying to make the Beeb more 'accessible' by bringing it closer to the general public.

As for moving in October (probably) - this is presumably timed so that you can get conveniently far away from me as I move within a short walk of Bush House...

So what becomes of Bush House - the Beeb still has it until 2008, so I presume the World Service isn't moving quite yet. What about the space that you'll leave behind?

Whoami?

"We want to create working environments which will inspire our staff to new broadcasting heights, add to the BBC's heritage and encourage the local community to come in and see just exactly what goes on inside their BBC."

Sounds nice. Any chance for a guided tour during a meet?

Reading the press release:

"Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and graphic designer John Morgan have collaborated on a poem on broadcasting inlaid into the surface of the pedestrian street running through the centre of the development. "

I'd quite like to go and stamp up and down on some of Andrew Motion's poetry. I shouldn't say that, though...

Whoami?

Mina said:
"The portcullis sounds cool! Not sure about hundreds of tiny soldiers getting underfoot though. I wonder if there is a drawbridge?"

Don't forget the crocs in the moat!

I'll be having a Blues installed asap.

I don't remember seeing any poetry on the floor, I'll have to pay more attention when I'm walking around there next time.

Hi Marjin,

The problem with a guided tour would be that it's literally miles away from anywhere we'd be likely to want to meet up. There aren't any good meet-up places in the area really.

They do do backstage tours of BBC TV Centre though, so maybe if people were interested in doing that it might be possible. I don't think they do tours on Saturdays though, so it might be tricky for people to attend.

Hi Whoami,

"So what becomes of Bush House - the Beeb still has it until 2008, so I presume the World Service isn't moving quite yet. What about the space that you'll leave behind?"

The actual bit we're in, Mina, me, Jimster, Natalie and Paully is leased from another company, so that will just be let to some other company. The main bit, I think the BBC will still use until the lease is up. The World Service will stay for a while, but not sure who will live in the other part, some lucky so and so!

And you'll have to come down for lunch in the new building. It's a few stops down the central line, so not *that* far.

I've just looked at the buildings part of bbc.co.uk - and the plans for Broadcasting House! So they're moving 9 national and one international radio network and all of BBC News to Broadcasting House, with 6 telly studios and 140 acoustic spaces? That's scary. And I didn't think the News Centre next to TV Centre was that old...

Still, yes, I will have to come down for lunch in the new building - that would be lovely! Although I agree that Bush House has its charm...

Whoami?

Really!

I wouldn't have thought that there was enough space here for 6 TV studios and 140 acoustic spaces, it's quite big but not that big surely? Maybe the TV studios are just for news and really tiny. The BBC sure manages to squash them all in. The other thing that's weird about this is that the lease is up in 2008 as you said. I wouldn't have thought that it was worth the investment of setting up all these studios to use them for three years and then close them down again. Ho Hum!

Read the post again - I was waffling about something irrelevant as usual - the plans for the extended *Broadcasting* House...

Whoami?

Peta, I know it is way out of London!
Years ago I was on a course with IBM, way beyond White City.
It did not even look like a city anymore.

I hope you are close to the station.

Yes, we're very close to the station indeed, which is pretty good. There was a train derailment at the station the other day, apparently the collective team wondered what on earth was happening!

Or did the team collectivly wonder?

We're not moving now until December *at the earliest*!

Which means we get one last Christmas in town before we go... And Whoami can come visit!

Don't you just love the feat of organisation that the BBC is! I knew you wouldn't escape so easily!

Whoami?

Yeah, I kinda wondered if this would happen!

Hopefully, knowing the BBC, we'll still be here Christmas 2005.