The Drum's design clients of the week: Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan
When property developers take on site architects other building professionals tend to be the main beneficiaries. But in the case of London’s White City redevelopment, a host of other creative agencies will gain from the intervention in the former BBC Television Centre by Stanhope and its development collaborator Mitsui Fudosan.
The mixed development masterminded by architect Allford Hall Monahan Morris got the go-ahead at the end of 2013. The scheme includes the renovated Grade 11-listed 1950s BBC building designed by architect Graham Dawbarn. But the scope of the project came into focus this week with the launch of branding for the 14 acre Television Centre complex by design group Prophet.
The developers’ plans for shops, restaurants, a public square and a new Soho House members’ club on the site to support some 950 new homes, will entail considerable design work from interiors and experiential design to wayfinding and street furniture.
The renamed Television Centre will effectively create a new West London neighbourhood in the way the Paddington Waterside Partnership is building a new commercial hub at Paddington Basin on the Grand Union Canal. The new development will add to the West London axis created by the nearby Westfield shopping centre and draw more consumers out West.
Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan are creating great opportunities for designers across disciplines to win work on the new site. For that alone they win this week’s vote as ‘Clients of the week’ .