Media Press Centre and International Broadcast Centre

What we want for Hackney

Hackney’s vision is of a modern media city as the magnet and economic driver for the creation of a new mixed-use living and working neighbourhood on the western Olympic fringe. We want to use the creative industries as the heart of a new community with a full range of facilities for residents, and the Games provide an ideal opportunity to make this happen.

The media city itself will offer state of the art communications and infrastructure for future digital, broadcast and media industry requirements. It will be home to major media and new technology companies and small and medium sized businesses recognising the commercial advantages of being clustered together.

The area will be enlivened by shops, cafés, bars and restaurants alongside high quality office and studio workspaces. It will be woven into the 21st-century metropolitan district which includes a range of leisure and community facilities, a high quality public realm and a mix of affordable homes and commercial space alongside idyllic parkland and waterways.

"The media centre will provide state-of-the-art facilities for thousands of press when they come to London in 2012 and help to relay the excitement around the world. After the Games the IBC/MPC can then be modified for use by businesses and has the potential to be the beating heart of London's growing digital economy."

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell

Media Press Centre

The MPC includes:

29,000 square metres of sustainable office space by the River Lea Navigation, providing four storeys of workspace for journalists and photographers during the Games.
Innovatively designed flexibility that enables the building to be adapted in legacy for either a single tenant in the whole building or on each floor, as well as multiple tenants on each floor.
A connected single strip of single storey buildings facing the canal that can be separated into ‘mews’ accommodation in legacy offering another type of quality business space in legacy.
State-of-the-art utilities, power and digital connectivity during the Games and in legacy.
Innovations designed to meet demanding sustainable building standards in legacy including a 2,500 square metres ‘brown roof’ of gravel and moss to encourage invertebrates; 60% of non-drinking water to be collected from across the Olympic Park; habitats including over 100 bird and bat boxes.

International Broadcast Centre

Around 52,000 square metres of studio space of two 8-10m high floors during the Games with a temporary gantry running along the building for technical equipment.
8,000 square metres of offices over five floors at the front of the building.
The flexibility after the games to be separated into a number of units and for design features to be altered such as cladding replaced with windows.

Temporary Games-time elements, most of which reduce the Games and legacy transformation costs, include:

A 12,000 square metre catering village serving 50,000 meals a day 24 hours.
A 200 metre long High Street between the MPC and IBC featuring outlets such as banks, newsagents, travel agents and a post office.
A temporary Media Conference room between the IBC and MPC for up to 800 journalists.

A Media Transport Mall providing coach drop-off and car parking, accreditation and security screening during the Games will be halved in legacy to provide car parking spaces to legacy tenants alongside walking, cycling and public transport connections.

During the Games

The IBC/MPC will support 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists communicating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to an audience of approximately four billion people worldwide.

Car park

A car park with space for 1,200 vehicles is being built for the Games. After 2012, the capacity will be reduced to 600, providing a suitable facility for use after the Games, providing parking for a wide range of venues.

Plans for the future

After the Games, the facilities will create just under 900,000 square feet of business space with the potential to generate thousands of new jobs.

“We are pleased improvements have been made to the design of the IBC which enables the building to be more flexible for its legacy use. We welcome the ongoing commitment to refining the MPC design and finish to ensure a building of quality that can become the home for creative industries in legacy. We must now ensure the employment legacy vital to Hackney and East London is achieved and we will continue to work closely with our partners to secure this for all our residents.”

Elected Mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe

Get in contact

If you want to know more about the project, please contact:

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Unit
2 Hillman St, Hackney E8 1FB
Tel: 020 8356 3126
Email: olympics@hackney.gov.uk

Page updated: 15 Jun 2010