BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre
#11

(03-08-2022, 11:57 AM)Lester Wrote:  Will this be a bigger facility than the Mailbox?

The BBC has been underserving the midlands since it abandoned Pebble Mill.

But without the BBC in the Midlands over half the viewers will have no BBC TV!
(not everything is in Birmingham - although half of Local radio may be there ,
and after all "Doctors" is not a MailBox production)

The greater issue was that there was very little indie production in the Midlands
(other than Maverick) .... its too close to London....
So where was the creative base that (although it was not the aim) the move of David Rose's department
to Pebble Mill tried to achieve ...... and the general Programming that Barrie Edgar was doing in the 60s onwards
That is why Digbeth Loc is producing a focus for the creative arts and some commitment
for TV Production facilities being used - as well as being built! is a very good move.....

(03-08-2022, 12:13 PM)MFTJA Wrote:  To me it seems like a good move. The Mailbox seemed like a good idea, but shopping malls *sorry* “leisure spaces” never seem to work well for broadcasters.

Was the move to The Mailbox necessary? Could Pebble Mill have lasted another while?

The Mailbox came at a time when the BBC wanted to be "In the High Street"
and bearing in mind the (teething) "problems" that occurred with workers getting to the Mill
by Public transport and the lack of Local shops (the canteen had to sell the Basics like bread!)
The pressure to move to the City Centre was quite great!
Sadly the Mill was suffering from "concrete cancer" and it was not designed to have computer facilities
in every office ( Like Television Centre) and it also had two very large performance spaces not really needed
in the way that BBC and (TV/ Orchestrial) Productions was going / had gone

(03-08-2022, 05:08 PM)Jon Wrote:  From what the press release says the stuff will move before BBC Birmingham does. So there must be room. At one stage a lot of stuff moved out of Birmingham, they used to produce things like Countryfile and Points of View and had some Radio 2 and 5 Live off peak programmes coming from there. A lot of that moved out so I was under the impression the Mailbox has a lot of empty space. I know they’ve moved a few departments in there since but not sure it’s ever been to the scale of what’s been taken out. And of course as technology moves on, less people will need to be in the buildings. 

If I was to guess, I imagine their new space will be at best the same size as it is now. I think the press release states they’re taking the top the floor.

But the important thing is the space to make programmes will be part of the wider project.

Although the Mailbox was said to be the "shoebox" it actually was bigger than the BBC needed
to decant from the Mill And then the move of some productions to Bristol and London
made the emptiness rather great and was censured by the NAO
At figure. 16 p 38 and fig 15 ... of 800 places it was only using 449!
www.nao.org.uk 

But of course since then the whole of "Personnel" function have moved in
and far more important all the BBC work with apprentices - over 4% of the
BBC head count are managed and many based there.
That is the BBC for the mid 21st century .....

Rather the the Mill which was bring the BBC in Birmingham to only one site in the early 1970s
from three far from idea locations they inhabited!
I see the Digbeth Loc Site giving the BBC / Media industry in Birmingham
and the surroundings the lift that it got when the Mill opened.....
And it will be quite a nice walk from any of the Main Rail stations
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Messages In This Thread
BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Clean Feed - 03-08-2022, 11:20 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Asxer544 - 03-08-2022, 11:50 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by all new phil - 03-08-2022, 11:58 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Lester - 03-08-2022, 11:57 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Toby brown - 03-08-2022, 04:54 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Jon - 03-08-2022, 05:08 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by MFTJA - 03-08-2022, 12:13 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Jon - 03-08-2022, 01:41 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by London Lite - 03-08-2022, 05:17 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by JD_ - 05-08-2022, 06:00 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Technologist - 06-08-2022, 06:26 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Stooky Bill - 28-11-2022, 11:34 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Phil - 25-11-2022, 06:01 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by chaose - 25-11-2022, 06:22 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Technologist - 25-11-2022, 08:48 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by chaose - 25-11-2022, 11:28 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Jon - 25-11-2022, 10:34 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by DTV - 27-11-2022, 12:37 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 19-12-2022, 12:49 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by DTV - 19-12-2022, 01:23 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 26-11-2022, 04:41 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Stuart - 26-11-2022, 07:47 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 26-11-2022, 08:31 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Jon - 29-11-2022, 06:26 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 19-12-2022, 03:42 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by DTV - 19-12-2022, 01:30 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by W. Knight - 19-12-2023, 04:19 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Humphrey Hacker - 19-12-2023, 10:51 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 20-12-2023, 02:07 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by AndrewP - 20-12-2023, 05:59 AM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 20-12-2023, 05:04 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Stooky Bill - 20-12-2023, 07:25 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Technologist - 20-12-2023, 07:32 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by IndigoTucker - 21-12-2023, 04:55 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Spencer - 21-12-2023, 08:32 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by IndigoTucker - 21-12-2023, 09:20 PM
RE: BBC Birmingham Moving to New Purpose-Built Broadcast Centre - by Mike - 21-12-2023, 11:11 PM

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