A New Headquarters for the BBC’s Global Network

The BBC’s New Broadcasting House in central London consolidates 5,500 staff members from the broadcaster’s worldwide network.

HOK’s interior design for what onoffice magazine called one of the “largest, most complex” workplace schemes in London over the past 50 years promotes collaboration among the BBC’s creative people, who operate three 24-hour news channels, nine radio networks and 26 foreign language services.

The design maximizes use of space, incorporates new digital technology and creates a highly flexible environment that the BBC can easily adapt to meet its changing needs.

The scheme celebrates the distinct identity of each department within the unified BBC brand, which features a distinctive red and orange palette. This brand consistency allows the BBC to broadcast from most locations in the headquarters.

Flexible workstation clusters with extra data and power outlets accommodate changing team sizes. Other formal work spaces include 57 meeting rooms and 72 touchdown areas.

The building provides a variety of spaces for informal collaboration. Quiet, one-on-one spaces are grouped around the perimeter of the two large atria. A series of back-to-back booths, or railway carriages, facing the atria provide collaborative space on each floor.

Reported Interior Design magazine: “Shedding several smaller buildings around London as part of a major, ongoing consolida­tion effort has allowed the BBC to introduce a unified technology system—one IT department, one type of training. Not to mention the huge economic payoff.” The project was honored as one of the Top 10 Design Projects of 2013.

The BBC reports that the project is improving its bottom line “by sharing content and guests more easily, reducing support and training costs, disposing of smaller unwanted buildings and using new workflows to save money.”