First published: 2011
And so, the BBC leaves its Manchester base for Salford and turns off the studio lights for the very last time. Opened by Prime Minister James Callaghan in June 1976, the building will be decommissioned after North West Tonight in the last week of November 2011, and the last remaining team will join 1700 other BBC staff at Media City UK.
After compulsory purchase orders were approved for the site in 1967, planning began and after abandoning designs by an external architect, design work was completed the BBC's Architectural and Civil Engineering Department, with a completion date of 1975.
The BBC has sold the premises to Reality Estates for an undisclosed fee. Reality Estates won the bid from a shortlist including the likes of Bruntwood and Downing. Reality Estates also own Gateway House on Piccadilly Station Approach and the former Manchester Abattoir in Newton Heath.
Perhaps unloved by many due to its uncompromising concrete facade, possibly one of the most impressive features is the radio studio built to house the Northern Symphony Orchestra, later known as the BBC Philharmonic, alas this huge studio is now silent but the band plays on.. in Salford.