BBC Post Production's long-awaited move from Pebble Mill to Birmingham's The Mailbox is due to be completed within a fortnight and plans to expand into the new BBC drama production village site are being discussed.
BBC Post Production's long-awaited move from Pebble Mill to Birmingham's The Mailbox is due to be completed within a fortnight and plans to expand into the new BBC drama production village site are being discussed.

BBC officials have confirmed that all post-production staff and equipment will have been transferred by 6 September, the revised date of BBC Post Production's Birmingham launch.

It was also revealed to Broadcast that talks between BBC drama and BBC Post

Production could lead to a specialised post outfit being set up at the new Selly Oak ( Broadcast , 10.6.04) drama production site. The new base, at Birmingham University's Selly Oak campus, will be used to house the making of Doctors and Grease Monkeys.

The move into The Mailbox, which was due to be completed last March, was delayed as it had taken longer than expected to get the infrastructure in place.

Conversion work on the buildings is already underway with a fibre link installed in anticipation of fully tapeless working in the future. The move into the BBC drama village is expected to take place by the end of the year - in time for the next series of Doctors. Although the plans for the production area are based on offline Avid Media Composers, there is an expectation that tapeless technologies will be adopted next year. Clive Hodge, head of operations, BBC Post Production, said: 'We're exploring a number of technology options of which [Sony] XDCam is a frontrunner. We're hopeful that IBC should cement some of our decisions.'

As a commercial subsidiary of the BBC, BBC Post-Production has to sub-lease space from the BBC at a competitive price. Hodge said: 'Although the overheads are greater than they were at Pebble Mill our location is vital to our customers and being close to the BBC departments is necessary because of that.'

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands has taken over the lease of the nine-acre BBC site Pebble Mill, which opened in 1971. It is expected that the site will be converted into a business park.

Topics