BBC Television Centre plans unveiled

Developer Stanhope and the BBC have unveiled their plans to open up and transform Television Centre into a mixed use development.

The Allford Hall Monaghan Morris-designed scheme includes office and studio space for the BBC, complementary entertainment and leisure facilities, public open space, offices, housing and a hotel. 

Television Centre will be opened up to the public with the famous forecourt developed to include retail, leisure and entertainment uses, together with access through the site to the local area, including Hammersmith Park.  

The BBC will also continue to have a significant presence at Television Centre, while the remaining office space will be aimed at occupiers in the creative sector providing new employment opportunities.

There will be a variety of public uses, including a cinema, health club, restaurants and cafes, which will benefit the local community.  

The listed buildings at Television Centre will be retained.

Stanhope and the BBC have established a joint venture company, TVC Developments Ltd, to deliver the project, to identify further BBC legacy opportunities going forward and to integrate the proposals into the wider White City Opportunity Area.

David Camp, chief executive of Stanhope Plc, said: “The BBC will continue to have a significant presence at Television Centre and we will be bringing new life into the site with new public routes, spaces and uses. 

“We will be introducing a vibrant and exciting mix of new retail, leisure, office and residential uses whilst keeping and enhancing the famous original BBC buildings and retaining key operational BBC studios and office facilities on site.  Television Centre will be a great place to live, work and visit.”

Paul Monaghan, director of architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, said: “This unique opportunity will see the creation of a masterplan which will open up this much loved site, and the iconic buildings set within it, to the public for the first time and reconnect it with the surrounding neighbourhoods.”

Dominic Coles, BBC director of operations, said: “This development will not only deliver a legacy befitting a site of such historical significance but also is part of a BBC property strategy which is maximising value for money for the licence fee payer and releasing fresh funding for programming making.”