Broadcasting House#Second phase

File:Bbc broadcasting house front.jpg

Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1928, with programmes gradually transferring to the building. On 15 March 1932, the first musical programme was given by the bandleader Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra. Hall also wrote and performed, with his dance band, Radio Times, the name of the BBC's schedule publication.{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/HenryHallsBbcDanceOrchestra-21-30 |title=Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra – "Radio Times" |date=1930s |access-date=9 May 2014 |work=archive.org}}

The first news bulletin was read by Stuart Hibberd on 18 March. The last transmission from Savoy Hill was on 14 May, and Broadcasting House officially opened on 15 May 1932. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBC's civil engineer, M. T. Tudsbery. The interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. He directed a team that included Serge Chermayeff and Wells Coates and designed the vaudeville studio, the associated green and dressing rooms, and the dance and chamber music studios in a flowing Art Deco style.

File:Sensation in Langham Place - Arthur Watts - Radio Times - 1931-12-18 - pp 912-915 - composite.png, from the 1931 Christmas edition of the Radio Times ]]

The building is built in two parts. Dispensing with the oft-found central light-well of contemporary buildings this size, the central core containing the recording studios was a windowless structure built of brick. (Structural brick rather than steel framing was used in order to reduce noise transmission both from without and between studios.) The surrounding outer portion, designed for offices and ancillary spaces, is steel-framed and faced with Portland stone.{{cite web |url=http://www.orbem.co.uk/bh32/bh32_in.htm |title=Design and Construction of Broadcasting House in the 1930s |access-date=28 February 2016}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/bh_past.shtml |title=The Past |access-date=19 September 2011 |publisher=BBC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003004522/http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/bh_past.shtml |archive-date=3 October 2011}} While the outer portion had plenty of windows, the inner core required special sound-dampened ventilation systems.

There were two areas where right of ancient lights would cause height restrictions. While the rights on the southern side ceased to be a problem after the owners of those rights gave concessions, the rights on the eastern side were dealt with by sloping the roof away from the street from the fourth floor up. This not only affected the floor plan of the structure, but meant that the interior recording tower could not be built to the top floor. (Thus, one studio on the top floor was actually outside the central studio core structure.)

Underground structures, including a hundred-year-old sewer, also presented problems during construction. The building is above the Bakerloo line of the London Underground: the Victoria line was tunnelled beneath in the 1960s, and presented problems for construction of the Egton Wing (see below).{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/bh_development.shtml |title=Broadcasting House, London – the creation of a major new broadcast centre |publisher=BBC Press Office | date=April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118050840/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/bh_development.shtml |archive-date=18 November 2012}} Noise from passing trains is audible within the radio theatre but generally imperceptible in recordings. The ground floor was fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street, as the BBC believed that to finance such a project (costing £25 million in today's money), they would need to let the ground floor as a retail unit. The rapid expansion of the BBC meant this never occurred.

The original building is a Grade II* listed building.

Beginning in 2003, Broadcasting House underwent a major renovation during the BBC's W1 Programme,{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/W1-Programme-comes-to-a-close |title=W1 Programme comes to a close |access-date=5 September 2013 |publisher=BBC |date=30 April 2013 }} with the aim of refurbishing the building and combining a number of the BBC's operations in a new extension. This houses the television and radio operations of BBC News, relocated from Television Centre, and the BBC World Service, which relocated from Bush House on 12 July 2012.{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18810309 |title=BBC World Service leaves Bush House |date=12 July 2012 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=12 July 2012}} Many of the BBC's national radio stations are also broadcast from the building, with the exception of BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra which have moved to Salford Quays. The building work was completed in two phases. It began with the demolition of two post-war extensions to the original building.

::"The redevelopment was part of a wider cost-saving strategy to consolidate the BBC's property portfolio and centralise its London operation. This will ultimately produce savings of more than £700m over the remaining 21-year life of the BBC lease on Broadcasting House."[https://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/ BBC – Broadcasting House – Home] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209111025/http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/ |date=9 February 2016}}[http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/disclosure_logs/rfi20111247_broadcasting_house_rent.pdf Freedom of Information request – RFI20111247]

File:Spangly new reception at Broadcasting House.jpg

The first phase consisted of the renovation of the original building, which was starting to show its age and needed structural repair, and a new wing to the east.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/index.shtml |title=The story of Broadcasting House |access-date=19 September 2011 |publisher=BBC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904135903/http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/index.shtml |archive-date=4 September 2011 }}

In the old building, the sloped "cat slide" slate roof was removed and many of the rooms stripped back to their walls, although much of the Art Deco architecture was retained and preserved. Much of the work focused on the lower walls and ceilings, which did not include Art Deco features. The reception area was renovated to include a new desk while retaining the message and statue as an attention piece. Many rooms had ceilings removed, such as the south tower, and new reinforcement joists were added.

File:Broadcasting House and Egton Wing II.jpg]]

The new Egton Wing is roughly the same shape as the main building, with a modern design and window arrangement but retaining features such as Portland stone. Towards the rear a large block was created in the side, mirroring that created in the main building when the sloping roof was removed.

The design of the extension, intended to equal the original in "architectural creativity", was carried out by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard. Construction was completed in 2005, with the refurbished Broadcasting House and new Egton wing opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 April 2006 as part of her 80th birthday celebrations. All areas of the Egton Wing were fully fitted out and completed by 2007.

In 2012, it was announced by the then Director-General Mark Thompson that the Egton Wing would be renamed the 'John Peel Wing' to commemorate the late Radio 1 disc jockey, whom he described as a "great radio talent".{{cite press release |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/john-peel-wing.html |title=BBC to name wing of new Broadcasting House after John Peel |access-date=2 March 2012 |publisher=BBC |date=2 March 2012 |archive-date=14 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214164830/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/john-peel-wing.html |url-status=dead }} Thompson described the wing as a "fitting tribute to a man who personified so much of what the BBC stands for".

File:BBCBroadcastingHouse.JPG

It houses BBC London, BBC Arabic Television and BBC Persian Television, together with the reception area for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra.

File:BBC_Speakerthon_19.JPG

The second phase was the creation of the large wing to the rear of the building, joining the two buildings, and creating a plaza between them. The original architects were replaced for not agreeing to cost-related revisions, as Sir Richard MacCormac was unwilling to sacrifice the quality of his design.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/nov/13/broadcasting.bbc |title= BBC in political row after sacking leading architect |access-date=10 June 2010 |location=London |work=The Observer |first=Antony |last=Barnett |date=13 November 2005 |page=2}} Construction was completed by Bovis Lend Lease{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2837033/Bovis-to-revamp-BBC-headquarters.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2837033/Bovis-to-revamp-BBC-headquarters.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Bovis to revamp BBC headquarters |access-date=10 June 2010 |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=19 December 2002}}{{cbignore}} in 2010, and control handed over to the BBC in 2011. While the rebuilding process was under way, many BBC radio stations moved to other buildings near Portland Place.

The extension contains the BBC News and Journalism departments, and state-of-the-art technical equipment and new studios to house the BBC News bulletins on television, the BBC News Channel and BBC World News, the BBC Arabic Television service and the BBC Persian Television service. At the heart of this is a new newsroom, the largest live newsroom in the world.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/bh_future.shtml |title=The Present |access-date=19 September 2011 |publisher=BBC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703033350/http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/bh_story/bh_future.shtml |archive-date=3 July 2012}}

A walkway above the newsroom allows the public to view the work of journalists, connecting the foyer to the Radio Theatre and a new café for staff and the public. Complemented by the outdoor plaza, which could act as an outdoor arena and theatre, this is designed to engage the public with the television and radio making process. The extension is glass-covered in the plaza area and curved to contrast both wings either side and to continue the glass on both sides high up the building. On the Portland Place side, it continues the same use of Portland stone and glass as with the John Peel Wing.

On Monday 18 March 2013 at 1 pm, following the BBC News Channel's final broadcast from Television Centre, the first news programme from Broadcasting House was aired: the BBC News at One, on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. BBC World News was the first of BBC's news services to move into the new building on Monday 14 January 2013, beginning with GMT at noon.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the extension on 7 June 2013.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22804844 |title=Queen officially opens BBC's new Broadcasting House building |work=BBC News |date=7 June 2013 |access-date=7 June 2013}} The second phase development won the 'Programme of the Year' award at the 2013 annual awards of the Association for Project Management.{{cite web |url=http://www.apm.org.uk/news/bbc-and-bq-triumph-apm-awards#.UpRXzecgGSM |title=BBC Triumphs at Awards |publisher=APM |date=4 November 2013 |access-date=26 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322025448/https://www.apm.org.uk/news/bbc-and-bq-triumph-apm-awards#.UpRXzecgGSM |archive-date=22 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}

When built, Broadcasting House contained 22 radio studios{{cite web |title=Key Facts: Broadcasting House, London |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml |publisher=BBC Press Office |access-date=18 October 2012 |date=May 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613223230/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml |archive-date=13 June 2007 }}{{cite book|last=Hines|first=Mark|title=The Story of Broadcasting House, Home of the BBC |year= 2008 |publisher=Merrell |location=London |isbn=978-1-85894-421-0 |url= http://www.merrellpublishers.com/?9781858944210 |edition=First |page=51 |access-date=12 March 2013}} for all programme genres, in the art-deco style with an emphasis on both looks and practicality. The practicality of the studios diminished rapidly as a result of the changing nature of broadcasting and changes in the required uses of the studios. These studios and their original intended roles were:

Following the rebuild and refurbishment, several studios have been added and the studio structure changed dramatically. The current studios are:{{cn|date=January 2024}}

Until programmes air information is subject to change. All times listed are either Greenwich Mean Time or British Summer Time depending on what is being used in London.

File:Prospero and Ariel (94216050).jpg]]

File:Ariel between Wisdom and Gaiety.jpg]]

The building showcases works of art, most prominently the statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) by Eric Gill. Their choice was fitting since Prospero was a magician and scholar, and Ariel a spirit of the air, in which radio waves travel. There was, reportedly, controversy over some features of the statues when built and they were said to have been modified.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} They were reported to have been sculpted by Gill as God and Man, rather than Prospero and Ariel, and that there is a small carved picture of a beautiful girl on the back of Prospero.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Additional carvings of Ariel are on the exterior in many bas-reliefs, some by Gill, others by Gilbert Bayes.{{cite press release |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml |title=Key Facts: Broadcasting House, London |access-date=16 October 2019 |publisher=BBC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613223230/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml |archive-date=13 June 2007}}{{cite news |url=http://www.orbem.co.uk/bh32/bh32_es.htm |title=Exterior Sculptures – Broadcasting House in 1932 |access-date=10 April 2007}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archivehour/pip/agm6l/ |title=BBC – Radio 4 – Archive Hour – The Home of Radio |access-date=10 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630002921/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archivehour/pip/agm6l/ |archive-date=30 June 2008}} The reception area contains a statue of 'The sower' by Gill.

The statues of Prospero and Ariel have attracted controversy in recent years, due to evidence that Gill engaged in pedophilia, and that the sculptor's sexuality might be reflected in the statue. The BBC has declined to remove the statue, citing Gill's status as one of the preeminent British artists of the 20th century.{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Megan |date=24 January 2022 |title=Reckoning with Eric Gill's legacy |url=https://www.creativereview.co.uk/eric-gill-legacy/ |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=Creative Review |language=en-UK}} On 13 January 2022, the statue was vandalized by a man wielding a hammer, who wrote "Time to go was 1989" and "noose all paedos" on the statue.{{Cite web |date=12 January 2022 |title=Man uses hammer to attack statue on front of BBC Broadcasting House |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jan/12/man-uses-hammer-to-attack-statue-on-front-of-bbc-broadcasting-house |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Quadri |first=Sami |date=15 January 2022 |title=Save the Children to ditch font designed by paedophile artist Eric Gill |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/save-the-children-remove-font-designed-paedophile-artist-eric-gill-b976883.html |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=www.standard.co.uk |language=en}}

Several works of art were commissioned by the BBC for the refurbishment of Broadcasting House, at an overall cost of more than £4 million.{{citation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/mar/26/broadcasting.bbc |title=£4m price tag of BBC art collection |work=The Observer|first=Antony|last=Barnett|date=26 March 2006|access-date=10 May 2017}} Among these is World, a pavement artwork by the Canadian-born architect and artist Mark Pimlott. According to the BBC, the work "reflects the global dimension of the BBC’s broadcasting and consists of over 750 stone flags inscribed with place names from around the world, as well as those from history, mythology and fantasy. The artwork is enhanced by elegant steel lines of longitude and latitude, a subtle scheme of small embedded lights and some audio installation linked to key output from the World Service."{{cite web |title=What to see outside |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/visitorinformation/whattoseeoutside.html |publisher=BBC |access-date=24 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020233301/http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/visitorinformation/whattoseeoutside.html |archive-date=20 October 2015 |url-status=dead}}

On the roof of the John Peel wing, mirroring the radio mast, is Breathing, a cone-shaped glass structure reaching into the sky to the same height as the mast. It was sculpted by Jaume Plensa as a memorial to journalists killed in the line of duty. It includes words from a poem by James Fenton and is illuminated day and night. At 10 pm daily, in line with the BBC News at Ten, a column of light shines {{convert|900|m|sigfig=1}} into the sky. It was officially unveiled on 16 June 2008, by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7456036.stm |title=Killed reporters' memorial opens |access-date=10 June 2010 |work=BBC News |date=16 June 2008}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/17/television |title= Editorial: In praise of ... the Breathing light sculpture |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=10 June 2010 |location=London |date=17 June 2008}}

The earliest use of Broadcasting House as a setting in fiction would seem to be in the 1934 detective novel Death at Broadcasting House by Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell (Eric Maschwitz), where an actor is found strangled in Studio 7C. Broadcasting House is a central feature in Penelope Fitzgerald's novel Human Voices, published in 1980, where the lead characters work for the BBC during the Second World War.{{cite book |last=Fitzgerald |first=Penelope |title=Human Voices |location=London |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1y6Jq6pVOoC |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-395-95617-5}} It is also the work place of Alexander Wedderburn in A. S. Byatt's 1995 novel Still Life,{{cite book |last=Byatt |first=A. S. |author-link=A. S. Byatt |title=Still Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7V3IUi4C-UC |page=191 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York City |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-684-83503-7}} and Sam Bell in Ben Elton's 1999 novel Inconceivable,{{cite book |last=Elton |first=Ben |title=Inconceivable |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWs7lLgEBaMC |publisher=Dell |date=26 May 2010 |isbn=978-0-3077-5554-4}} and also that of the evil nazi-sympathiser Ezzy Pound in Michael Paraskos's 2016 novel In Search of Sixpence.{{cite book |last=Paraskos |first=Michael |title=In Search of Sixpence |location=London |publisher=Friction Press |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-9929247-8-2}} The building is well realised as a setting in Nicola Upson's 2015 mystery novel London Rain.

File:Statue of George Orwell at BBC Broadcasting House.jpg outside Broadcasting House, headquarters of the BBC]]

The head of BBC history, Robert Seatter, has said George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), "reputedly based his notorious Room 101 from the novel "on a room he had worked in whilst at the BBC."{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/09/homage-to-george-orwell-bbc-statue-wins-planning-permission |first=Maev |last=Kennedy |author-link=Maev Kennedy |title=Homage to George Orwell: BBC statue wins planning permission |work=The Guardian |date=9 August 2016 |access-date=19 June 2018 |location=London }}

On 7 November 2017, a statue of Orwell, sculpted by the British sculptor Martin Jennings, was unveiled, outside Broadcasting House. The wall behind the statue is inscribed with the following phrase: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear". These are words from his proposed preface to Animal Farm and a rallying cry for the idea of free speech in an open society.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/41a0eedb-c435-479d-aa63-a89ad81daf01|title=Orwell statue unveiled|date=7 November 2017|website=BBC|access-date=7 November 2017}}

In 1985 it was revealed by The Observer that MI5 had had a special office in the building from 1937{{cite web | title= History of the BBC: Observer reveals MI5 vetting of BBC staff |url= https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/august/mi5-vetting | date= 18 August 1985|website= BBC Online | access-date=6 July 2014 }} for the purpose of vetting BBC employees for national security purposes.{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3WEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27| title=British Television Drama: Past, Present and Future| first1=Jonathan| last1=Bignell| first2=Stephen| last2=Lacey| publisher=Springer| date=12 May 2014| access-date=16 October 2019| isbn=978-1-1373-2758-1}}

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• {{BBC Online|broadcastinghouse|Broadcasting House}}
• {{BBC Online|historyofthebbc/collections/buildings/broadcasting_house|History of the BBC – Broadcasting House}}
• {{BBC Online|pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house|Press Office Key Facts – 1932 Broadcasting House}}
• [http://www.miketodd.net/other/bhhistory/ Broadcasting House – a potted history]
• [http://www.orbem.co.uk/ Old BBC Radio Broadcasting Equipment and Memories – Broadcasting House in 1932]
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• [https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/925e06998e7c412299dfcf0676064aae Cover] of the 13 May 1932 issue of the Radio Times, depicting the newly opened Broadcasting House, by Adrian Hill

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