The Site

The site

Early in 1928 the B.B.C. was informed of a site at the corner of Portland Place and Langham Street which was in the hands of a syndicate who were contemplating developing it for the purpose of high-class residential flats. The position of the site appealed to the B.B.C. as fulfilling the requirement of being in the centre of London, and particularly as being only a few minutes distant from Oxford Circus, which in many ways is as convenient of access as Piccadilly Circus or any other traffic junction in Central London. The fact that the site was also a few yards from the Queen’s Hall gave it a certain sentimental appropriateness for broadcasting. The syndicate owning the site offered to build a new headquarters to suit the B.B.C.’s requirements, and to grant the B.B.C. a long-term lease, with an option to purchase which has since been exercised. 

The development of the site itself, which occupies an area of about twenty thousand super. feet, was governed by the peculiarity of its shape and certain restrictions on height arising from the existence of ‘ancient lights’ on two of the three open faces of the building. The site was shaped like a flat-iron, with a blunted apex pointing south, and the base, or northern end, joined on to existing buildings. The western front, facing Portland Place, was not subject to any restriction of height other than that of the London Building Act. The eastern front, facing Langham Street, had to be designed so as not to violate the rights of light attached to the buildings in that street. There were similar rights on the short southern front of the building, but these were satisfactorily adjusted by concessions from the owners. The main result of the restrictions has been the cutting away of the roof from the fourth floor upwards so as to keep it within the limiting angle.

The site also raised certain questions of style, in that a modernity of design appropriate to a new science like broadcasting had to be reconciled, in the exterior of the building, with the quiet distinction of the neighbouring buildings in the Adam and Regency styles.

Ventilation

Ventilation

One of the main features of Broadcasting House is its elaborate system of ventilation. The studio ‘Tower’, being entirely surrounded by the offices and built so that it excludes all external noise, has to be provided throughout with artificial lighting and ventilation. In order that artists may work under the most favourable conditions, the air provided to the studios and their suites is ‘conditioned’ before being circulated through them. 

The raw air is drawn in through intake panels high above Langham Street by suction fans that serve the plants in the Sub-Basement. There the air is drawn into the plants and passes through water sprays which wash out all particles of dust and soot. If people are to feel quite comfortable in a room supplied entirely by artificial ventilation, it is necessary that both the temperature and the humidity of the air should be of the correct value. If the air is too dry, there will be a feeling of general discomfort. For this reason the humidity and the temperature of the air supplied to the studios is automatically maintained at a comfortable level whatever the outside atmospheric conditions may be. When the temperature in one of the studios or their subsidiary rooms tends to rise because more people have come into it, a thermostat operates an automatic device, and a greater quantity of cooler air is introduced. The ventilation of the studios has been so designed that there should not be more than a variation of 1½ degrees in any studio, irrespective of the number of people occupying it. The vitiated air is extracted from the studios by fans on the roof of the building. A refrigerator of sufficient capacity to freeze 200 tons of water per day has been installed in the Sub-Basement for the provision of sufficient cooling for the air-conditioning plants in hot weather.

Another precaution taken in the ventilation equipment is possibly peculiar only to a building designed for broadcasting. The air is fed from the various plants in the Sub-Basement to the studios, listening rooms, artists’ waiting-rooms, green room, etc., in the ‘Tower’, by means of several thousand yards of metal ducting, in which materials for absorbing sound have been placed in such a way as to prevent sound travelling along it. In addition, the studios are grouped onto four separate studio air-conditioning plants as another means of eliminating sound-interference between the studios.

As the offices are open to fresh air, conditioned air is not provided to them. They are, however, heated in winter by means of hot-water radiators, the water for which, together with the hot water required for domestic purposes, is heated by calorifiers connected with the oil-fired steam-raising boilers in the Sub-Basement. These boilers supply the steam required for the heating of the heater-batteries in the ventilation plants and the ducts. There is oil storage sufficient for over one month’s use.

1932 // THIS IS TRANSDIFFUSION