BBC install HCP trench heating at White City media village and obtain “excellent” BREEAM rating.

Architects Allies and Morrison designed five new buildings totalling 131,000m², which have joined the original BBC White City building to create a new 17-acre BBC Media Village site on Wood Lane, London W12.

Merging broadcasting facilities with leisure, office and retail it formed part of the regeneration of the area. The buildings are within walking distance of the adjacent BBC Television Centre and provide office space for approximately 6,000 people.

Specified by Consulting Engineers Buro Happold, HCP designed, manufactured and installed over 2,500 linear meters of trench heating for this project. Trench heating is an ideal solution for combating cold down draughts and condensation, problems often associated with buildings that have glazed elevations. Another advantage of installing trench heating is the full utilisation of valuable floor and wall space, which could otherwise have been taken up with a traditional radiator system.

On some elevations a mixture of extra deep casings and special bridging casings had to be manufactured to span the building’s curtain wall brackets and fit with the space planning grid.

Acoustic baffles were also specified beneath partition walls to prevent sound transfer between neighbouring rooms. A sound reduction of up to 52 dB was required in some of the more sensitive areas of the building.

In order to ensure a consistent appearance, HCP also supplied plenum boxes, and floor grilles to the central reception to offer an integrated system of fully recessed displacement supply air terminals.

Officially opened by Jonathan Ross in 2004, the buildings were awarded an ‘excellent’ rating under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which assesses the environmental impact of buildings.

The scheme was realised through a public/private partnership with BBC and Land Securities Trillium, which saw the BBC leasing the building for 35 years.

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BBC White City case study
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Project Name: BBC White City
Client: BBC and Land Securities Trillium
Architect: Allies and Morrison
M&E Contractor: Haden Young
M&E Consultant: Buro Happold
Main Contractor: Bovis
System Type: Trench Heating
Special Requirements: Bridging casings, acoustic baffles & fresh air terminal integration
Length: 2,500+ linear meters
Location: London
Completition Year: 2004