BBC Radio Gets a Facelift

The British Broadcasting Corporation operates a number of radio and TV networks throughout the U.K. The jewel in the BBC’s crown is Broadcasting House, once described as “that elegant stone battleship sailing proudly down Regent Street” — a reference to its striking architecture and imposing edifice. But time moves on.

At the heart of the new building is a large, open-plan newsroom and production area beneath an eight-story atrium, with acres of glass as the dominant architectural feature. “We have restored our original home and expanded it to create the largest live broadcast center ever,” said former BBC Director-General Mark Thompson just after the new building was opened.

The complex contains six TV studios and 140 acoustic spaces, as well as specially conceived zones for discussion and interaction.

But the numerous glass surfaces, which provide an open, airy atmosphere with excellent sight lines between newsroom staff on various floors, posed a number of acoustical challenges. The floor that houses BBC World Service’s news preparation areas and on-air studios — recently relocated from its long-time home in nearby Bush House — contains a variety of different-sized production and air studios designed by London-based Munro Associates.

As Andy Munro, the firm’s founder and chief designer, recalls,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. “We were given the task of developing a completely modular studio format that could be positioned anywhere in a standard office environment without placing demands on the building’s complex infrastructure; the construction equivalent, if you will, of ‘plug-and-play’ radio.”

The BBC management expressed a strong preference for an “open, visually connected structure that was originally described to me as ‘studios without walls,’” he said.

Because Munro Associates was tasked with building a total of 30 studio areas in just six months, he opted for a modular construction technique. “Several companies offer interlocking, pod-type constructions but none of them could achieve the sound insulation and complete transparency that, from the start, was the client brief,” the seasoned designer continued.Other companies want a piece of that iPhone headset action

“The only option was a completely new design from the ground up. It was also decided to build several prototypes and test every element of the structure before going into full production.”

In addition to several standalone areas, a total of 18 larger facilities are built into clusters of two and three studios with integral control systems that allow them to function independently or interact with one another to accommodate different program formats.

Two main design obstacles immediately presented themselves: sound insulation and acoustic conditioning.Did you know that custom keychain chains can be used for more than just business. “These are difficult to perfect at the best of times,” Munro acknowledged, “but we had to achieve broadcast quality in a room with all glass walls, glass doors and without physical support from the main building.”

His solution was to construct a rigid floor platform with sufficient strength to support a steel frame that contains sealed-glass panels for the surrounding walls. “Ceiling panels would be locked into place by jacking them up to the underside of the frame beams, which allowed access to the various pipes and cabling located in the main ceiling voids.”

To avoid sound transmission into the production spaces from the surrounding newsrooms and control centers, each modular structure was floated on anti-vibration mounts.

For ventilation, a plenum system pulls cool air from the ceiling and circulates it within the space. “The main building has the chilled-beam ceiling with a water supply temperature of 61 degrees Fahrenheit that mixes incoming fresh air and ambient air to give an inflow to the glass boxes of around 65 degrees,” he said.

“We expect the rooms to work at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat load of the equipment and bodies being 400–700 watts. Since that means we have to pull in enough air to give the required cooling effect, our fan speed can be varied accordingly.We've got a plastic card to suit you. Fan noise is the limiting factor and we designed our plenums to reduce this to NR25.”

Because most of the heat-producing equipment racks are located outside each studio, Munro said, the heat load of each room is no more than the same space occupied by the news teams.Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. “So the net demand on the building is unchanged. To install these studios with no gain in energy demand was an achievement of which we are particularly proud.”

To balance the acoustic performance of each room and achieve “neutrality” without impacting the available views into or out of the studio areas, Munro came up with an innovative solution. “We opted to use trapezoid geometry,” he said, “whereby all the internal reflections are guided to a single row of hanging ‘sausages’ that have very high absorption. They also hang inside the room and so absorb reflections back from the glass, as well as the initial impact.”

According to Oliver Giese from VCS’ projects department: “SADiE digital audio workstations and the LRX2 digital audio mixers have long been the mainstay of the broadcast community, thanks to their editing and location recording capabilities. SADiE is renowned for its speed and ease of use, making it ideal for radio drama production and news, where the emphasis is on a quick turnaround.”

All production and air studios feature a programmable intelligent display system from U.K.-based systems integrator IPE that uses conventional Ethernet LAN/WAN links to connect desktop IDS control touchscreens, in addition to a number of large screen displays throughout the complex. IP-based table lamps also provide status alerts, while other panels handle remote infrared control for studio TVs via the touchscreens.

The BBC’s Radio 1 pop music channel operates various studios and a live performance space — The Live Lounge — on the eighth floor of the new building, in which other floors also house the World Service and BBC News. IPE Systems equipped the new Munro-designed glass studios used by World Service and the BBC’s domestic news output with five more traditionally constructed general purpose studios and the six on-air studios shared between Radio 1 and its digital twin 1Xtra and two Newsbeat studios.

Interestingly, to ensure sound compatibility between recording channels and air studios throughout its radio services, and to reduce the costs of spares inventory, the BBC uses only three types of vocal microphone: Neumann KM 184 and AKG C414, plus the Neumann U 47 for Radio 1 DJs.

To ensure adequate sound isolation in the glass studios between the open plan newsroom and the smaller production areas that lack a separate sound lock, Munro sourced a novel door-closure system with dual-pane glass. “We specified cam locks that pull the door firmly into the frame and provide a full acoustic seal. We also specified longer door handles to provide easy access to handicapped staff and guests in wheelchairs.” The design offers between 40 dB and 47 dB of sound isolation, the designer said.

And to alert staff of the current status of each production area, large tricolor LED panels are illuminated above each cubicle. “Blue/white indicates that the area is powered,” Munro explained, “while amber indicates that it is ready for transmission, and red that the studio is live to air.” IDS DMX interfaces control the LED lighting.