London Olympics Media Centre

International Broadcast Centre, taken during The London 2012 Summer Olympic Games
The London Olympics Media Centre (incorporating the International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre) in June 2011

The London Olympics Media Centre is a large complex located in the Olympic Park in East London, built specially for the 2012 London Olympics. It is located at the site of the former Hackney Wick Stadium close to the Riverbank Arena.[1]

Following the Olympics and Paralympics, the centre was renamed Here East.[2]

Description

At the time of the Olympic bid it was intended that the complex would be privately financed on the basis that the building would have residual value from alternative uses after the games.[3] As of December 2009, the Olympic Delivery Authority had allocated £702 million of Programme and Funders’ contingency, largely to cover the decisions to publicly fund the Village and Media Centre after it became clear private funding could not be secured on acceptable terms during the 2008 to 2010 economic crisis.[4]

The complex is a 24-hour media hub that caters over 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and print journalists facilitating broadcasts to 4 billion people worldwide.[5] It contains an International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and a Main Press Centre (MPC).[5]

The design of the complex, which is 275 metres (902 ft) long, was by Allies and Morrison.[5] It has a catering village and a multi-storey car park to link the two main venues (the IBC and the MPC) together.[5] The construction cost was £355 million[3] and the main contractor was Carillion.[6] It was completed in July 2011.[7]

Laing O'Rourke has been appointed to carry out the £150 million redevelopment of the Broadcasting Centre.[8]

Legacy

The complex will create some 900,000 square feet (84,000 m2) of business space as part of the legacy of the games[9] and will form part of the iCITY 'digital quarter' of London.[10]

BT Sport has been broadcasting from the centre since August 2013.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Olympic Park runners savour their day". Headway. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  2. ↑ "Here East". Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 Gibson, Owen (2009-01-21). "Government forced to bail out major Olympic projects". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Preparations for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress report February 2010". Nao.org.uk. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "London 2012 Media Centre London : IBC/MPC Building". e-architect. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Women make their mark on the 2012 Olympic site". BBC. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "IBC / MPC". London 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "O'Rouke to win £150m Olympic media centre". Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "London 2012 media centre to leave green business and employment space in legacy". London 2012. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "A new digital quarter for London". iCITY London. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  11. ↑ "BT Sport to make iCity and the Olympic Broadcast Centre its production home" (Press release). BT Group. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.

Coordinates: 51°32′50″N 0°01′20″W / 51.54722°N 0.02222°W / 51.54722; -0.02222

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