Cash-Strapped Auntie

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BBC rethinks plans to sell Television Centre by 2013

The BBC's plans to sell-off two of its Wood Lane properties may have to be postponed because of the economic downturn, the corporation's director general has said.

The sale of Television Centre and Woodlands, which was meant to raise additional income for the BBC, was due to take place by 2013, but in a stark email to staff on Thursday (November 13), Mark Thompson said the target date was being reconsidered.

“You only need to look at the empty offices across the UK to see that we’ll need to review this timetable,” he wrote in the message, addressed to all the corporation’s employees.

He said postponing the sale would have a deep impact on the BBC’s funding forecast: “Delay will have a knock-on effect on our spending plans, a point made starkly yesterday by Chris Kane, the BBC’s Head of Corporate Real Estate, who reported that we face as much as a £140m shortfall over the next five years if we are unable to dispose of these assets,” Thompson said.

He said the decline in the commercial property market was coupled with an £8 million year-on-year rise in the BBC’s utility bills. This meant there would be a significant reduction in the organisation’s corporate hospitality budget – but Thompson also hinted at the prospect of further jobs cuts.

“Our guiding principles are to maintain the high quality output that you have all played a part in delivering, and given the very deep headcount reductions we have already made, to minimise any further large-scale job losses. Given that we have already made tremendous efforts to achieve savings, finding additional areas to save money will be challenging. But we need to do it – and to do it in ways which do not damage the quality of the services we offer the public,” he wrote.

The BBC had to make significant cuts following the lower-than-expected licence fee settlement last year, and over the last four years, the organisation has reduced its annual costs by £350m and shed 7,000 posts.

Several BBC departments currently based at WhiteCity’s Television Centre are due to move to Media City in Salford, while others will relocate to Broadcasting House in Regent Street. The Woodlands building on the eastern side of Wood Lane used to house BBC Worldwide but has already been vacated.

The BBC declined to say how much it hoped to raise from the sale of the two buildings.

Earlier this year, English Heritage advised the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport to recognise the cultural and architectural significance of Television Centre and to list parts of it at grade II.

14 November 2008