One of London’s most powerful landlords is demanding £11m from the BBC to allow the broadcaster’s £400m redevelopment of Broadcasting House, W1, to go ahead.
Sources close to Howard de Walden Estates said it had applied for an injunction “to make the BBC sit up and take notice” of the Marylebone landlord, which sold the site on Portland Place to the broadcasting giant in the 1930s.
The original deal included a restrictive covenant to prevent the BBC from building on the site above a certain height.
Howard de Walden claims that the scheme proposed by the BBC for Broadcasting House would overshadow its buildings on the north of Duchess Street and is demanding £11m in compensation.
But the BBC has offered a total of £5m to the landlords in the area, which include the Langham Estate as well as Howard de Walden.
A Howard de Walden insider said: “The BBC seemed to be reluctant to discuss compensation on our terms, so we decided to seek an injunction to protect our commercial interests.”
A BBC spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have received a writ from the Howard de Walden Estates seeking an injunction to restrict the redevelopment of Broadcasting House and are currently in discussion with them to resolve the issue.”
The writ is the latest in a series of setbacks for the BBCs plans for Portland Place.
It has already been forced to scale back the height of the buildings following fierce opposition to the plans from Westminster council.
The revised 800,000 sq ft (74,300 sq m) scheme, which will house all the corporations television and radio news operations, gained planning permission in July.
It is expected to be completed by 2008.
The BBC has requested that the High Court hearing into Howard de Walden’s claims be brought forward to 17 February, the earliest possible date.
CB Hillier Parker is acting for Howard de Walden.
EGi News 13/01/03
