Fifteen Million Quids-worth of Concrete

When people ask me if the BBC's Mediacity currently being built in Saldford will be good for my business, I usually say 'I hope so' or 'I'm sure it will be good for the North West'.

I sometime add that what would be more interesting to me, as a North West-based independent, would be a fund, of say £20m, which I and other indies could bid for programmes. Rather than an office block, which looks nice, and accomodates BBC staff.

On Tuesday I heard a figure which made me re-think those responses when one of the consultants currently fitting out Mediacity told a conference in Salford that £15m a month was being spent on pouring concrete into the three BBC Mediacity office block buildings (which are called, imaginatively A, B and C).

Suppose the developers had one less month of concrete and instead put that £15m into a programme fund, to be spent at a rate of £5m a year for three years on independent production from the North. That would have a transformational impact on the production sector.

Of course the BBC will argue that it is not spending £15m a month on concrete - it will be renting the completed buildings from the developers. But it's still BBC money that will pay for the buildings ultimately. Maybe Towerblock C would have to be a couple of floors lower than A and B if there was £15m less concrete. But by the time the BBC arrives in 2011, that £5m a year could have stimulated a vibrant production sector to work alongside the incoming BBC staff.