Archives for February 2010

Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind, with lots of questions relating to the publication of the National Audit Office (NAO) report, and over the next week or so I want to lay out my thoughts on the key aspects of the report.

Firstly, reports of this nature provide an opportunity for re-evaluation and learning. It is never comfortable for anybody to have their efforts scrutinised and examined by a third party, but an external perspective can be very useful. The BBC answered 199 questions on each of the three projects - Pacific Quay, MediaCityUK and Broadcasting House - for the NAO and supplied almost 40MB of data. Thanks to everyone on the team who helped contribute to this mammoth effort.

We accept that we haven't always got things right. There are times we wish we'd begun our journey from a different place. But we've continued to learn lessons and apply those learnings. For example, the problems during Phase 1 of Broadcasting House did give rise to an overspend, however it also resulted in identifying further benefits in the building as well as realising £172m of savings that more than cover the cost over-runs.

It has also provoked me to reflect on what we're trying to achieve and step back to see the big picture. For me it's the challenge of a lifetime in that these three projects taken along with all the other work we're doing represent the biggest property development programme that the BBC has ever undertaken. It is an ambitious and unprecedented estates programme. When these schemes are all complete by the end of 2012 they will provide the BBC with three world-class buildings and unrivalled broadcasting capability fit for the digital age.

This is better described by Caroline Thomson, the BBC's Chief Operating Officer, who thinks the property portfolio transformation is the key to enabling the BBC to fundamentally change. She said recently: "As well as simply housing our people and equipment, the buildings will play a fundamental part in determining the way we work and the way the public view us over the next twenty years."

The story of this massive transformation begins at the closing of the 20th century; in 1998 the BBC unveiled its 2020 Property Vision - a property strategy to take the BBC through the first two decades of the new millennium. The BBC forecast (correctly) that this would be a period of great change for the Corporation and broadcasting in general, due to new technology, fundamental shifts in the world of broadcasting, and severe pressure on costs.

The key principles of the 2020 Property Vision were:

Flexibility: Property must not constrain the BBC's freedom to change

Technology: All BBC space must be able to cope with the technological needs of the future without expensive reconstructio

Talent: Competition for talent was expected to increase, so BBC buildings had to offer attractive working conditions. The White City One building had drawn strong criticism for the low quality of its architecture; future BBC buildings would redress this

Audience: New competition would test public sympathy for the licence fee, so the BBC had to be closely associated with the communities who paid for it; BBC buildings should actively welcome in the public to experience the BBC in action and see programmes broadcast

Cost: BBC property should help the BBC save money

To deliver this vision, we have had to change a great deal ourselves, as managing the BBC's property holdings is different. All major building projects are complex, expensive and risky ventures. But major property projects for the BBC are uniquely demanding because of the great weight of expectations they have to bear - because these are BBC buildings.

The people who make programmes in our buildings expect them to be flexible enough to keep up with constantly evolving production styles and technologies that can go through a complete cycle every two years - which is why we always tell our architects and contractors we want 'elastic buildings'.

The public expect our major buildings to be iconic pieces of architecture - but also to offer clear value for money, which iconic architecture is not often expected to do.

The public also expect our buildings to be open and accessible, with attractive public spaces in and around them.

The managers whose teams use our buildings expect them to be attractive places too - good enough to attract some of the world's best creative talent, and places which not just house that talent, but actively enable it to do its best work.

The planners and politicians who grant permission for our buildings to be built increasingly expect them to offer solutions for problems much broader than our own. They expect them to produce wide social and economic benefits - to help urban regeneration and to be the catalyst that helps transform a region. One example of where we are doing this is in Salford - where the BBC move is expected to help generate upwards of £200m additional economic activity.

There are no off-the-shelf solutions for buildings that carry expectations such as these. Together with our partners we have invented solutions through a process of constant innovation - not just in design and technology - but also innovation in financing and project-management.

We have a story we are proud to tell, however we must always be open to scrutiny and open learning.I have always welcomed the opportunity to share our learning with the rest of the industry and with the wider occupier community - the journey we have embarked on is a really ambitious one and is designed to provide the right workplace for the BBC. Our story is worth telling: we have transformed 30% of the estate over the last decade at minimal cost to our licence fee payers.

We have accepted that we made mistakes, but we have learned, we have changed and we are well on the way to delivering a revolutionary set of new buildings for no more than the cost of our old buildings and on time. Our new high-tech workplaces are helping the BBC to change; to become more open to audiences and to use cutting-edge technology to ensure we continue to make quality content on every platform and deliver even better value for money.

Over the next few days there will be a lot written about our major property projects - Broadcasting House, Pacific Quay and MediaCityUK Salford, as today the National Audit Office publishes a report on its findings of an audit they undertook on behalf of the BBC Trust.

There is an awful lot to say by way of response to this report and to ensure that BBC Workplace and our partners are kept up to speed and I plan to write a number of blogs on this aspect.

Read the full report on the NAO website.

Last November I wrote about the completion of the latest addition to the BBC Estate - a new facility for Cambridge. I had hoped to attend the formal opening ceremony on 27 January. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to prevent me from making the trip. So, as a substitute, you can have a look at the BBC Cambridge website for a full report including a video of the event.

I knew something was amiss when walking up Portland Place last Tuesday - there were lots of blue flashing lights and fire engines outside Broadcasting House!

Due to a fire in an electricity duct running alongside BH some smoke found its way into the BBC building and this tripped our fire alarms. It was very heartening to see that all the emergency planning and fallback systems worked a treat. Lots of people were impacted as we had to evacuate BH - but we didn't see any significant interruption in output. Within a short period everyone had found an alternative place to get on with the day's work.

For an alternative view on what happened, take a look at the report in this week's edition of Ariel.

On Monday I was in the Council Chamber at London's Broadcasting House to participate in recognising the achievements of some of our Workplace team.

Silver Award winners are selected from previous Bronze Award winners from each quarter in recognition of the outstanding service they provide.

Chosen individuals usually stand out because they have consistently been praised for their efforts; often by BBC staff who go out of their way to acknowledge this.

For those who take the time to report back on good service I want to say thanks.

There were three awards and they were made to Rukmanidevi Piruthivirajah - 'Mani', Catering Assistant, 6th Floor Fairtrade Coffee Bar, TV Centre; Svet Medic, Media Village Meeting Room Host; Toni Blunden, FM Co-ordinator in Central London and Diane Jacob, ID Unit Assistant, Bush House.

My congratulations to all concerned.