ITV has submitted a planning application to Lambeth Council for the redevelopment of its South Bank headquarters. The plan involves new television studios and associated office space, as well as 213 new homes in a 31 storey tower.
ITV will consolidate its London staff under one room for the first time, with those at 200 Grays Inn Road migrating into a single building. Employment levels will increase from approximately 1,500 to 2,400 (excluding freelancers).
In total, more than 500,000 sq ft of offices and television studios are proposed. After 45 years on the site, the biggest changes to the scheme are for the television studios, making them fit the requirements of the 21st century.
ITV currently operates six television studios at the South Bank site, including two large “entertainment” studios of approximately 8,000 sq ft and four smaller studios ranging from 2,000 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft, which support the core “daytime” outputs from Monday to Friday.
The proposed scheme will result in a reduction in the number of television studios from six to three, but will retain filming studios for the daytime television shows and new production facilities.
Current entertainment productions, such as The Graham Norton Show, which have larger studio audiences, will not be undertaken at the site. The move to “daytime-only” productions at the site represents a change in the way the building will operate compared to the existing use.
ITV says that these changes represent a shift in both the regulatory framework and production requirements.
“When London Weekend Television (LWT) built their studios, they were sized to accommodate the largest shows made at that time, this was considered 8,000 sq ft. Over the last 10 to 15 years the trend has been towards production of a limited number of “event” type productions, such as The Voice and X Factor, requiring studios of 15,000 sq ft and above to accommodate the larger sets and larger audiences, resulting in these shows moving from traditional TV studios to film sound stages.
“This, along with the Ofcom requirement to produce an increasingly significant percentage of programmes outside the M25, has reduced the demand for television studios in the range of 6,000 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft in Central London.”
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