ITV has agreed terms to take a 13-year lease on Broadcast Centre in White City from the BBC, as it plans to bring all of its London based staff into one location for the first time.
The UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster plants to begin moving staff to White City from early next year, starting with teams in Waterhouse Square, and complete the move within a year.
About 2,000 staff will be moving to Broadcast Centre, where ITV is taking 120,000 square feet of office space.
The plan, announced today, will support ITV’s smart working initiative and its staff feedback on their preferred future working patterns, the company said.
White City had been the BBC’s broadcast HQ before moving operations to Salford and the majority of building were sold in 2015. Among the new tenants are Publicis Media UK, which moved all its agencies into White City in 2019.
ITV’s London staff are currently split between two central London locations (floors in Waterhouse Square in Holborn and in Gray’s Inn Road) and The WestWorks in White City (previously known as White City One).
The Westworks is where ITV’s Daytime teams are based and from where many of its shows are broadcast, such as the live Daytime shows Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women and entertainment shows like Saturday Night Takeaway and the Jonathan Ross Show.
The majority of ITV staff favour a hybrid working style balancing office based and remote working, the company found in a staff survey.
Broadcast Centre was chosen for its flexible layout and being designed for a broadcasting operation, having already been equipped with many of the technical facilities ITV’s operations teams require.
ITV also It also has the added benefit of enabling all of ITV’s London based staff to be in one location and to be close to where ITV creates and broadcasts many of its biggest shows.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s CEO, said “Our people have made it really clear to us that they want to build on the positive aspects of their experience over the last 18 months to have a more balanced approach to office based and remote working. That balance will vary from team to team given the kind of work we do and we know that face to face collaboration is crucial for creativity and innovation – we’re looking forward to this new hybrid way of working.
“Our new office will bring everyone from ITV in London together and will provide the size and flexibility to enable everyone to perform their roles, help ITV deliver on our strategy as well as get the balance they want in their lives.”
ITV will begin to move teams to White City from early 2022, starting with teams in Waterhouse Square, with moving complete within a year. Around 2000 staff will be moving to Broadcast Centre, where ITV is taking 120,000 square feet of office space.
