ITV leaves the South Bank

[Brekkie]

Obviously the Cheeky Girls didn't get the memo.

Teasing their interview, Phil explained: 'Well, we hope they’re gonna be here because actually they’re so retro they went to the old studio on the South Bank.'

https://metro.co.uk/2022/05/04/this-morn...-16584211/

[Inspector Sands]

Yes, I was not speaking about BBC Studioworks, they are very happy with the long term agreement with ITV Daytime. However I have read a lot from independent production companies, who would have liked another medium to large TV studio at Television Centre. Considering there is only TC1 available, I can see their point.

Although the situation has improved with the reopening of Riverside Studios just down the road. Of course some of the productions made there have moved from Studioworks medium sized studios at Elstree

[buster]

There was definitely still an element of wanting a prestige location when Waterhouse Square was chosen, particularly given the plan at the time was to move back to South Bank within a few years.  Then the chief exec changed and very quickly that plan was abandoned, and Carolyn McCall is notably less attached to premium locations than her predecessor (being in charge of Easyjet probably helped with that view!). Covid has only accelerated that so has made the move to a location outside of central London now much more palatable given a huge proportion of the staff won't be going in there 5 days a week (and anecdotally, many are still barely going in at all at the moment), so it makes sense. 

Arguably the biggest change (next year) is for those at Grays Inn Road, which was home to the ITV Network Centre from the early 90s and has variously occupied a few floors of the building, to most of it, back down to I think three floors at the moment.  The old ITV NC commissioning/strategy part of the business moved to the tower around 2009 to be closer to production, but GIR has been home to sales, technology and online pretty much all the way through (and since the tower closed a few other areas including marketing and sport).

[Inspector Sands]

Development of former ITV studios on the South Bank halted. 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61423213

It won't mean a return to the studios, but at least they might be replaced with something decent

[Brekkie]

It's an ugly scheme but not necessarily uglier than what is replaces - or indeed the Grade II listed National Theatre down the road.

[Inspector Sands]

It's an ugly scheme but not necessarily uglier than what is replaces - or indeed the Grade II listed National Theatre down the road.

The difference is the scale of it. They're replacing a rather thin tower with much bigger ones. The National Theatre is a fairly horrible concrete structure but at least its low levelif you look at it from across the river most of it is hidden by trees for a lot of the time.

Also both LWT and the NT are products of their eras, brutalist architecture is a fashion of the past. It doesn't excuse modern awfulness

[XIII]

I have a real soft spot for The National Theatre building in terms of its look and realistically you couldn't really build a theatre complex that will look aesthetically pleasing. The Barbican is similar.