Mediacity:UK Construction at Salford Quays
Wednesday, 7th May 2008 @ 10:31 am by Ed O'Keeffe
Mediacity:UK is expecting to be completed by 2011. From looking on the website they have a long way to go. The BBC will be moving many of its departments from London up to Manchester (technically Salford Quays). After a little research it is quite exciting to see the UK finally getting a “Media City”. This photograph was taken on Monday evening. It was very warm and humid and Ciaran persuaded me to take the bikes out and ride down to Salford. The weather was really overcast and cloudy, but you can just make out a warm orange glow where the sun was setting behind this construction work. I took this photo not only as a record of the building’s construction, but also because I had never seen so many cranes so close together like this. The image below shows an artist’s impression of how this will look when it is completed in three years time.
4 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
edwud.com :: Site Map | Report Error | VFXY Photos | coolphotoblogs - listed | Admin
Use of this website signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use
© 2000 - 2010 Ed O'Keeffe :: All rights reserved
I thought Ed O’Keeffe readers might be interested to know the current status of the actual build for MediaCity:UK in Salford Quays as of May 7th (11pm), 2008.
The site now consists of 12 cranes with a reported 8 more on the way (3 more crane bases in place). All of the concrete cores of the new BBC building look to be in place or started, rising to 9-10 storeys (maybe more) for the highest cores. The cores are currently being surrounded by concrete pillars up to 6-7 storeys currently. There are upto 400 workers on site currently with a proposed 1000+ to be posted eventually with 20 cranes in all (according to unconfirmed reports from workers on-site).
The land for the taller buildings off to the side of the main BBC building (right from the Lowry Centre side) is still being dug and prepared but more temporary cabins are in place off Broadway (the road that runs through the back of the Quays) presumably to house more MediaCity:UK project staff and a contingent of the BBC (cameramen) looking at the latest articles across the internet.
The current phase of the build occupies 35-40 acres (next to the City Lofts flats) with other phases planned across the water on the Imperial War Museum side.
The overall site is something of the order of 200 acres but no visible signs of development has started outside the main phase 1 area currently. No doubt this will depend on discussions with other media companies being persuaded to join the MediaCity:UK estate.
For a photographic timeline for December / May and beyond (and pictures back to May of last year), go to Google and search on ‘BBC Salford Quays Approved – Media City : UK whitfield’ in Google or goto ‘www.mawhitfield.co.uk/mcuk.htm’. This link always re-directs to the current months pictures.
Judging be the pace of the development, there is a big push on to meet the 2010/11 date for the first phase completion.
Those currently thinking about a career in the media by way of a chosen degree (media studies, photography etc.) might be one of the 15,500 new jobs to be created between now and 2011 in the first phase of this build. Also, the price of properties (and especially flats) in the area will almost certainly rise as a result of the considerable development occuring in this location with new flats being built currently.
I have worked as an IT Manager in Salford Quays for 13 years and live in North Bolton. When I first came here, the skyline of the Quays area was relatively flat but now houses such buildings as The Designer Outlet (80 outlet stores), The iconic Lowry and Imperial War Museum Buildings and new flat developments which continue to be built in anticipation of the BBC move and general growth in this area.
Hope this update helps.
Comment by Mark Whitfield — 7 May, 2008 #
For the latest MediaCItyUK Movies, goto MediaCityUK Movies
Comment by Mark Whitfield — 26 November, 2008 #
The maintained MediaCityUK photographic timeline is now held at the slightly modified link of :
http://www.mawhitfield.co.uk/mcuk.htm
Last month, it celebrated its 2 year anniversary…
Comment by Mark Whitfield — 17 August, 2009 #
Back in the Spring of 2007, the first digger arrived on site followed by more and more heavy construction hardware and materials with each passing day. The site is called MediaCityUK and is based in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. For Phase 1, it will be home to the University of Salford, BBC North and other media companies in 2011 and will be followed by subsequent phases on the 200 acre site. Needless to say, it seemed like a good idea in May 2007 (one month before the exciting Peel MediaCityUK project) to start an online photographic timeline journal of the entire development.
Nearly 3 years on, a year before the doors open on Phase 1, I have catalogued 12,500+ pictures by financial quarter, month and day. The timeline journal is updated weekly to provide all interested parties (both visitors and those involved in the construction) with a snapshot status of the MediaCityUK development project.
The problem I had was getting close to the large scale development in the quays, that is ‘to be intimate without being intrusive’. Time then to test a modern compact camera with a good optical zoom and image stabilisation.
I have 3 main vantage points to shoot from. The iconic Lowry Centre at the centre of the quays, the Imperial War Museum North observation tower (the 30 metre Air Shard viewing platform ) and the back of the development site, a road called Broadway which runs the length of Salford Quays (about a mile long).
I actually work as an IT Manager about 500 yards from the site and have been based in Salford Quays for nearly 15 years. Each time I pop over for a coffee (too many coffees for sure). Most of the site, like the rest of Salford Quays is bounded by water and provides a picturesque backdrop to the diverse and ever increasing disparate architecture of the once flat terrain.
When I took up residence in the quays back in the mid-nineties, there were very few landmarks to navigate by. MediaCityUK provides yet another attractive and modern set of buildings to the current eye-catching mix. The BBC North main building provides a full glass façade to reflect the iconic buildings that surround it, and is itself reflected in the water.
Hundreds of new media jobs are being created as part of the first phase opening of the site and to make access to MediaCityUK easier, a new pedestrian bridge is being built to accompany the current Millennium Bridge which crosses over from the Lowry Centre to the Old Trafford side, close to the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ football ground.
I would never describe myself as a professional photographer, just an enthusiastic amateur who has fully embraced the digital age of compact cameras (my first in 2000). As you will see from the online photographic timeline, I have been able to get close to every stage of the MediaCityUK build with good clarity. This even includes the stage by stage erection of the large cranes on the site.
For anybody involved in the media or currently at university studying related disciplines including photography and photographic techniques, the MediaCityUK development represents an exciting prospect. I thought readers might like to see the extensive build 1 year off completion in 2011. Around 50% of the BBC staff (for the appropriate BBC departments) are moving from the south to Salford Quays leaving a lot of job roles to fill. This is aside of all the other media companies that will eventually settle at MediaCityUK.
My MediaCityUK Photographic Timeline is located at, http://www.mediacityuksalfordquays.net/mcuk.htm. This link will always redirect to the current month’s photographs rendered at 800 x 600 resolution so that the web pages load quickly. There is also a link to an abridged timeline of 300 photographs resized to 1024 x 768 resolution. This shows the construction from the same point over nearly 3 years (excuse the Manchester clouds). Each page contains links to related articles and the official MediaCityUK website.
Comment by markwhitfield — 23 March, 2010 #