BBC Worldwide

The overview

BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC, creating and distributing content across the globe.

In late 2014, they initiated an ambitious transformational project that would see them move their headquarters to the BBC’s historical Television Centre. They wanted to transform the space into an audio visual hub suitable for one of the world’s leading broadcast organisations.

They wanted to showcase global content throughout the building, and provide the capacity for people to broadcast to everyone in the building simultaneously if need be, from wherever they are. Andreas Arnold, Director of Strategic Projects said, “We needed to seek help about what good solutions look like within the confines of our budgets and SCC really stood out.”

SCC planned, supplied, integrated and managed an end-to-end solution that saw BBC Worldwide’s new head office equipped with state of the art audio visual technology and business facilities, resulting in a successful and well-received transition.

Andreas Arnold continued, “Being able to display your content in a good way not only helps people to engage with it, but also helps us sell it to our partners, by making it come to life for them. This project has certainly been successful for us.”

“Ease of use was important, as well as creating an air of excitement around the content and the way it is displayed was really important.”

“People come in and they’re wowed by the environment. Staff and visitors alike will come in and start snapping pictures with their smartphones, which is nice – it shows how much they’re proud of and enjoying their new environment.”

After the project

Since the project completed, BBC Worldwide have made great use of the equipment. Personalities such as the CEO regularly address the building from the multi-function room and a number of high-profile events have been held there, such as the opening party which saw celebrities attending and making use of the AV facilities. Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide said, “We now have a fantastic new space to call our home and showcase all our amazing content. Our AV will enable us to embrace who we are and what we do as a global content company.”

The Television Centre is now an immersive and engaging building, steeped in broadcast history and now providing a new and exciting audio visual experience. Visitors and staff are constantly surrounded by screens and speakers, giving them perpetual access to the content being broadcast.