On air, on schedule and under budget

Londons Portland Place is home to the UKs first purpose-built broadcasting facility BBC Broadcasting House.

The building, which officially opened in 1932, survived a direct bombing during the Second World War and had been the home of network radio and many director generals for more than 70 years before undergoing a radical transformation, changing the building forever.

In 2002, the BBC had a big decision to make. Technology in three of its biggest buildings Television Centre, Bush House and Broadcasting House was coming to the end of its life. The BBC could replace them in situ, in buildings that were past their prime, or take a much more radical decision to replace the technology and bring it all together in one place.

Although more risky, the second option provided additional benefits as it allowed the BBC to bring together staff and maximise efficiencies.
The W1 programme was born, named after the West One postcode where Broadcasting House is located.

The vision was to create a brand new centre, fit for the digital future, to enable better programme making and to save money.

W1 would comprise the redevelopment of the original Broadcasting House with the addition of a major extension, New Broadcasting House, and a new East Wing, now re-named the John Peel Wing, in memory of the late Radio 1 DJ and broadcaster. The 92,000 square-metre structure would provide state-of-the-art, digital broadcast facilities for staff in television, radio, news (including the World Service) and online. The heart of the building would house the largest live multiplatform newsroom in Europe.

In addition to Broadcasting House, the programme would include other buildings in the W1 campus, such as Western House, home of Radio 2 and 6 Music, Brock House, home to professional support colleagues, and Grafton House, the new base for comedy and television drama.

The programme was to be much more than a lift and shift. It would involve bringing together thousands of colleagues and exploiting new creative opportunities through new ways of working.

Support from across the BBC 
W1 posed a complex set of issues. The old Broadcasting House was a Grade II listed building, rife with engineering complexities. Whats more, live broadcasting was taking place on site throughout the construction stages of the programme.  

Andy Griffee joined the team five years ago as the W1 programme director, which marked a rebirth of the programme, aimed at resolving earlier challenges. He says: This was a huge programme, which came to a head in perhaps the busiest editorial year in our history. We had to navigate around the Olympics, Paralympics, Queens Diamond Jubilee, London mayoral elections and the US and Russian presidential elections.

It was a monumental task for Andy and the team. A task made much easier thanks to expert support from the BBCs Major Projects Infrastructure team, who were responsible for delivering the broadcast technology and other infrastructure, and change colleagues in the divisions who were moving into W1 itself.

As well as being the busiest year to date, the programme was being delivered against a backdrop of budget constraints. Timeframes were immovable too. W1 posed a unique set of challenges,says the head of the BBCs PMO, Simon Higdon.W1 was one of a number of significant change programmes that the BBC brought together as a single portfolio, in order to better manage the intense period leading up to 2012. Supported by a PMO, the BBCs approach includes:

• A portfolio of critical projects and programmes to give visibility and coordinated management. 
• Independent assurance, including healthchecks at critical lifecycle points.
• Minimum standards for critical projects - for example, on benefits management. 
• A delivery capability programme built around lessons learnt on previous and current projects and programmes.

Andy adds: The PMO has given us space to do our job and at the same time provided support, wherever it was needed.

The real advantage is about tying together procedures in a consistent way. 

Creative benefits
W1 was as much about creative benefits as it was about the financial savings

Andy says: Broadcasting House was about laying the foundation for a new creative, dynamic hub in the centre of London, bringing together radio, television and international and domestic news all under one roof. This created a mass of opportunities, not least to take advantage of the economies of scale and maximise the creative benefits.

Such benefits were created by bringing together experts from across the organisation, breaking down silos and uniting teams. In all, 5,539 people were moved into the wider W1 campus 4,682 of that number were moved into the revitalised Broadcasting House.

The challenge for the project team was to ensure there was a seamless transition, and to keep everybody engaged. Andy explains: We arranged the moves to take place over 72 weekends. Each of the 5,539 colleagues who moved underwent individual mapping and training to prepare them and ensure minimal disruption.

The training was crucial and in total 17,494 training days were arranged. We had to design 126 different courses many from scratch, says Andy. They were very well attended with less than one per cent cancellation rate a sign of the commitment to the change.

As part of the programme, the number of buildings in use reduced from 10 to four which prompted a focus on efficiency. W1 is an expensive postcode so maximising space was crucial. We had a huge clear out and, through a series of measures including hot desks and more digital ways of working, reduced our office linear storage space by 75 per cent.

The team surveyed the organisation to investigate working habits and requirements before setting a stretch target of 15 people to 10 desks, on average. Additional space-saving changes included shared facilities such as meeting rooms, and sharing the 50 radio studios and edit suites.
As a broadcasting facility, there are a number of positions where people can plug in and broadcast live from all over the building, allowing people to tap into the expertise of other BBC departments and see them on-air.

Further efficiencies were identified as the programme developed. Andy explains: Prior to the move, every department in the BBC had its own technical support team. Now there is just one team under one manager to support everyone.

This was easier to achieve after the decision was taken to procure the same technology for colleagues across the corporation. 

Governance
When Andy arrived in 2008, he was charged with bringing in transformational change by combining the editorial, technology and construction parts of the programme. He outlines the governance structure in place: We had a W1 steering group chaired by the programme sponsor, Mark Byford. He was the deputy director general of the BBC at the time and had the influence to bring people together and get decisions made.
Also on the group were the directors of news, television, radio, finance, and HR.

Andy says: For each of the programmes coming in we had a road map to on air. This looked at what each team and each programme needed to go live. They varied in type and scale but looked at every aspect of delivery from piloting and training to the technology and space required.

The W1 budget was set at 1.046bn, 800m of which was for the construction element of the programme and was funded via a bond. The bond had a payback period of 30 years and was secured against Broadcasting House, which the BBC owned outright, and the new development.

Anybody walking through Portland Place can see that the physical build is a success, but W1 is a triumph in terms of the wider financial and creative benefits saving money, with efficient use of assets for the future. Andy says: We have identified over 700m of financial benefits over the years that the BBC has to repay the bond, and that doesnt include the 200m collected from the sale of Television Centre in White City.

The programme represents a fundamental reshaping of the BBC property portfolio, in addition to new workflows, cheaper facilities management and a masterclass in exploiting the economies of scale.

So what is the final measure of success? In March 2013, Andy reported a final underspend of 30m. W1 is on air, on schedule and under budget.

Andy's message
Create a positive single-minded culture within your project. We created one-team where everyone stepped up and worked across boundaries to deliver the vision. In 25 years of my time at the BBC, it is strongest team at the BBC that I have worked with.

In with the old and new
As one of the most iconicBBC buildings, the team faced a difficult balancing act in maintaining the history, character and grandeur of Broadcasting House, while at the same time completely transforming the building.  

The BBCs heritage is evident throughout W1. As you approach the new reception area you are greeted by a piece of public art reminiscent of the Hollywood walk of fame. World created by Mark Pimlott reflects the global dimension of the BBCs broadcasting, and consists of more than 750 stone flags inscribed with place names from around the world, and enhanced by steel lines of longitude and latitude. In addition, there is a subtle scheme of small embedded lights and an audio installation linked to key output from the World Service.

Rising up 10 metres from the roof of the John Peel Wing stands Breathing, an inverted glass sculpture by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa. It stands as a third spire, linking to the radio mast and the spire of All Souls church. The sculpture is also a memorial to all news reporters and crew who have lost their lives in conflict zones. The text inscribed around the glass cone reflects this: Silence is a voice, our voice. Silence is a body, our body.

In the evenings the cone is lit, and every day, in tandem with the 10 o'clock news bulletin, a fine beam of light projects from its base approximately 900 metres into the night sky.

All of these measures were aimed at bringing in the old and the new, building pride in the BBC among colleagues and the licence-fee payers.

Biography
Andy Griffee is the overall director of the W1 Programme, covering development of Broadcasting House, the surrounding W1 campus and the migration of 6,000 news, radio, online and television staff.

This article first appeared in Project magazine. APM members can read all feature articles from Project magazine over recent years by accessing the Project magazine archive.

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