ITV has agreed terms to take a 13-year lease on Broadcast Centre in White City from the BBC, to bring all of its London based staff into one location for the first time.
ITV’s London staff are currently split between two central London locations (floors in Waterhouse Square in Holborn and in 200 Gray’s Inn Road) and WestWorks in White City, where ITV’s Daytime teams are based and where many of ITV’s shows are broadcast from.
ITV has assessed its working patterns over the past year and also asked its staff for their views. The consistent feedback amongst those whose roles can be done remotely is that the majority favour a hybrid working style balancing office based and remote working.
Broadcast Centre has a flexible layout and was designed for a broadcaster and is already equipped with many of the technical facilities ITV’s operations teams require. It also has the added benefit of enabling all of ITV’s London based staff to be in one location and to be close to where ITV creates and broadcasts many of its biggest shows – such as the live Daytime shows Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women and entertainment shows like Saturday Night Takeaway and the Jonathan Ross Show.
Additionally, the move will also contribute towards ITV’s previously announced cost saving target.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s CEO, said today: “Our people have made it really clear to us that they want to build on the positive aspects of their experience over the last 18 months to have a more balanced approach to office based and remote working. That balance will vary from team to team given the kind of work we do and we know that face to face collaboration is crucial for creativity and innovation – we’re looking forward to this new hybrid way of working. Our new office will bring everyone from ITV in London together and will provide the size and flexibility to enable everyone to perform their roles, help ITV deliver on our strategy as well as get the balance they want in their lives.”
ITV will begin to move teams to White City from early 2022, starting with teams in Waterhouse Square, with moving complete within a year. Around 2000 staff will be moving to Broadcast Centre, where ITV is taking 120,000 square feet of office space.
Jon Creamer
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