2012 media centre may face demolition if it fails to attract future tenants

The media centre planned to sustain and house broadcasters and journalists during the 2012 Olympic Games may have to be demolished after the finish of the Games, if it fails to attract permanent interest.

A number of issues have plagued this centre, such as poor planning and misjudging of long-term use of facilities – the roof will not be able to support lighting rigs for studio recordings, there is no central heating and there are inadequate transport links. The reasoning for these shortcomings seems to be that the centre was simply optimised for the Olympics with no future thought.

Despite offering 1.3 million sq ft office space, the £308 million centre has failed to attract any serious interest from buyers, despite once being thought to be the new home for ITV, Sky or BBC.

However, developers and owners remain confident that the centre will become a feasible solution to satiating the massive demand for prime office space in London.

A spokesman for the Olympic Park Legacy Company, the regeneration agency who will decide its future tenancy, said, “The Olympic Park Legacy Company is committed to the Press and Broadcast Centre site becoming a long term centre for employment – bringing jobs and opportunities to east London after the 2012 Games. The Press Centre represents prime office space, while the Broadcast Centre has been built with the flexibility to be reconfigured to suit market demand.”

He added, “There has been early interest in the legacy use of the buildings from a range of sectors including media, creative, retail, education, sports activity, culture and office use. Later this month, we will begin market testing into future usage of the site to build on this interest in order to understand how proposals can fit in with our vision to create a vibrant employment district.”

If the property fails to attract any interest following the Olympics, it will be pulled down in 2017 as part of terms expressed in the planning consent.