BBC Broadcasting House, London

EBU Members were given unique operational insight into the BBC's new state of the art, multimedia broadcasting centre in the heart of London during the 5th News & Technology Seminar, hosted by the BBC (23-24 May).

The ten year project to transform Broadcasting House into a broadcast centre for the 21st century represents the latest chapter in the history of the building which was built in 1932, ten years after the corporation first came into existence in 1922. 

Delegates were welcomed to the centre by Andy Griffee, who as Project Director managed the migration of more than 5300 news and some radio staff to the multimedia centre. "Delivering the vision of 'One BBC' heralds a simpler, more integrated digital service for audiences, and a simpler, more creative environment for staff," he said. "The redesign will save the BBC £736m over a 20-year period."

Andy Griffee, BBC Broadcasting House project director

Also responding to questions were Guy Pelham, live editor of BBC News, Sarah Ward-Lilley, BBC Acting Head of Newsgathering and Ken Connell, BBC Head of Operations.

Digital strategist and former head of BBC Journalism Products within the Future Media department Nick Newman concluded day one of the seminar by sharing his
vision of the future in an evolving digital age.

Mr Newman predicted that television audiences of the future will watch more video across different platforms with mobile phone users leading the growth. "We are  moving deeper into a world of conversation with the audience, where speed matters as much as accuracy, and away from the traditional one directional broadcast model," he said.

Day two featured a presentation from Xavier Jacques-Jourion, Head of Archives & Project manager of GEMS, RTBF's (Brussels) semantic search engine project: information is aggregated intelligently to enhance value and increase the speed of analysis.

The BBC Research & Development team also shared their experiments in using small unmanned aerial crafts to capture previously unobtainable camera perspectives, and explained the risks associated with the devices.

Participants also received updates on ongoing EBU News Technology projects including Transition-to-File, Media Fundamentals & Production and Integrated Media Production Strategy (IMPS) – an important platform in the creation of integrated newsrooms.

Jacob Kwon, Head of News Production at Danish broadcaster DR shared his experiences of how news teams collect material and share information  across multiple platforms in the form of a special video.

More than 100 delegates from 37 Member organizations attended the two-day seminar, which is organized  by the News Technology Subcommittee, currently chaired by Benoit Balon Perin (RTBF)