Category: Scotland
Date: 12.10.2005
Printable version
91Èȱ¬ Scotland announced today that its Broadcasting House premises and land at Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow, is on the market for sale. The 5.3 acre site has been home to the 91Èȱ¬ since 1936.
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Ken MacQuarrie, Controller 91Èȱ¬ Scotland, said: "This is a significant day in the history of the 91Èȱ¬ in Scotland. We all have a fond attachment to Queen Margaret Drive, and the surrounding community, and the building has served us well for almost 70 years. However, the accommodation is no longer fit for the purpose of broadcasting in this digital age.
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"Our new purpose-built headquarters at Pacific Quay offer much more opportunity to make better use of space and technical resources.
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"Our move will also help 91Èȱ¬ Scotland put as much money as possible into programmes by having a much more efficient and effective work place than is currently available at Broadcasting House."
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The current Broadcasting House complex is located within the heart of Glasgow's West End and set within an established residential district immediately adjacent to the Botanic Gardens.
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The site comprises of a number of adapted and bespoke buildings which are used in the production, administration and broadcasting of 91Èȱ¬ Scotland's radio, television and interactive programmes.
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Two distinctly individual buildings by two of Glasgow's greatest architects form the centrepiece of 91Èȱ¬ Scotland's operation.
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The earliest is North Park House, built in 1869 to the design of J.T. Rochead as a country mansion and private gallery for the brothers John and Matthew Bell, who owned the Glasgow Pottery at Port Dundas.
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In 1884 the house was acquired by Queen Margaret College, the first college for women in Scotland. In 1895, the College began building Britain's first Women's Medical School on the site, designed by architects Honeyman and Keppie, and an associate, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
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The College closed in 1935 with students (no longer segregated from their male counterparts) joining other larger centres of learning in the City.
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Principle architect James Miller began adapting the Glasgow site for 91Èȱ¬ Scotland in 1936 and North Park has since become the main rehearsal and recording space of the 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
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As with much of the West End, the site lies within the Glasgow West Conservation Area, which seeks to protect the general integrity and character of architectural significance in this neighbourhood.
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Glasgow's City Plan identifies the Mackintosh Building, Queen Margaret College and Thirties extension as Category B listed.
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The 91Èȱ¬'s planning consultants have already undertaken a conservation audit of the site and established, with planning officials and Historic Scotland, a framework for the retention and conversion of a number of the listed buildings at the western end of the site.
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Notes to Editors
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1. The Scottish Symphony Orchestra are due to move to the refurbished City Halls in Glasgow's Merchant City at the end of 2005. Glasgow City Council's redevelopment and restoration project has carefully retained the unique features of both venues, including the superb acoustics of the main auditorium and the listed ironmongery and signage in The Old Fruitmarket. There will also be a brand new Recital Room within the complex. The City Halls will be the core performing, broadcasting and administrative base of the 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra and are due to open to the public in January 2006.
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2. Construction of 91Èȱ¬ Scotland's new five-storey broadcast centre at Pacific Quay in Glasgow is on schedule, with the structural frame, roof and glass cladding all complete. The internal fit out has begun and the installation of building engineering systems are well under way.
Designed by leading international architect David Chipperfield and his team, the new complex will include public spaces and amenities intended to make the 91Èȱ¬ more accessible and welcoming to visitors. Digitally equipped for national and international radio, television and interactive, the 34,000sq metre new headquarters, which is due to be completed in 2007, will place 91Èȱ¬ Scotland at the heart of a unique urban media community of broadcasting and digital media production companies.
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3. A Category B listing is defined by Historic Scotland as 'Buildings of regional or more than local importance, or major examples of some particular period, style or building type which may have been altered.'
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4. Selected images of 91Èȱ¬ Scotland Broadcasting House premises are available on request.
