Description:
Restoration of a derelict listed building, built in 1847 as the Dock Traffic Office, and its conversion into Europe's most advanced television news centre. The building was designed in form of a classical temple. The creation of the complex facility as a television news centre within a restrictive shell called for great ingenuity. That the external appearance of the building was to remain largely unaltered posed further challenges. The studio is located at second floor level above the main hall. The provision of this space, together with its acoustic requirements, called for some complex structural engineering. The form of the space and associated rooftop plant rooms was carefully designed to have minimum visual impact and sit behind the chimney stacks. Other plant spaces were created in the basement, a complete electrical sub-station is buried in front of the building. In the main hall, original joinery and fibrous plaster moldings have been accurately reproduced. However concealed within the walls and floor of the hall are all the mechanical and electrical services required to rapidly transform the space into a TV studio, a public auditorium, an exhibition hall or an electronic office.