The impressive glass-fronted Forum is in the centre of Norwich. It already houses the city's library, tourist information centre and visitor attractions. From June, the multi-million pound studios that now occupy much of the building, will be the BBC's new headquarters in the east. It will be first time that the station's 120 staff have been together under one roof. The teams from BBC Radio Norfolk, Look East, Inside Out, The Politics Show, the Norfolk Where I Live website, News Online and Ceefax will all be based at the Forum. For more than 40 years, the BBC has broadcast from a converted Georgian family home in St Catherine's Close, while the radio studios have been based over the road at Surrey Street for nearly 23 years. Radio Norfolk and the Norfolk website will take over the new broadcast centre's first floor on Saturday 28 June.
However, our television colleagues will not move upstairs until autumn when their state-of-the-art equipment is ready. Most of the television technology has been specially commissioned for the new Norwich studio. It will be piloted in the city before eventually being rolled out to other BBC centres. Passers-by will be able to see the BBC at work through the floor-to ceiling windows which overlook the atrium. Paul Baker has been leading the project in Norwich, which has taken two years to plan. He has helped to pinpoint where the station's 200 television screens will go as well as find a home for 50 miles of cable - which equals a one-way ticket to King's Lynn from Norwich or a return trip to Great Yarmouth! Paul says there are several reasons why the BBC has had to move. "At the moment a lot of people in the county and the city don't know where we are," he said. "Given that we are a public service, people should know that we are there and that we are part of their community. "Here in the Forum we are visible. That's one prime reason for being here. "Also, we need new technology for the television side of our operation. "Where we are at the moment is fabulous but it's not very easy to refurbish it. To do all that work would be very difficult to do while we are still broadcasting," he added. Take a tour of our new home - click through this pop-up guide. If you want a better look at the BBC's new studios, then bookmark this page. Details will appear here of how you can go on a tour of the Forum once we have settled in. 
What a difference a few months make. This is the newsroom where Look East will be put together. |
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