relocate five of its London-based departments. In August 2005, Salford Quays was shortlisted as one
of four potential sites. By January 2006, the shortlist had been reduced to two locations, with Salford Quays pitted against the Central Spine scheme in Manchester for the final stretch of the competition. It was at this stage that the MediaCityUK concept was
truly born. A team of public sector bodies – the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company and Salford City Council – along with site owner and developer, Peel Holdings, created a long-term proposal for a brand new media district, inspired by media clusters in cities like Dubai and Singapore. This vision for a shared creative community proved compelling to the BBC, which selected MediaCityUK as its preferred site in July 2006. Stuart Rimmer, a Salfordian himself and Peel Holdings’
construction project director, comments: ‘MediaCityUK aims to bring together all the ingredients that make a great place to live, work and visit. As it was not constrained by existing architecture or infrastructure, it has provided an opportunity to create something truly bespoke which meets the needs of its citizens.’ A study carried out by Amion Consulting in 2006 suggested
that, ultimately, MediaCityUK could accommodate more than 15,000 jobs and 1,000 businesses. At the completion
MediaCityUK aims to bring together all the ingredients that make a great place to live, work and visit
of Phase 1 in 2011 there are likely to be 4,000-5,000 people working at MediaCityUK, and this figure will grow in line with its future development.
Tender The project’s management contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, started the construction of Phase 1 in June 2007 and is due to complete it in 2011. However, the first residents have already moved into their new apartments, and throughout 2010-11 the rest of Phase 1 will gradually open for business. Bovis Lend Lease put the mechanical and electrical contract out to competitive tender, and in January 2008 invited NG Bailey to submit a pre-qualification document. NG Bailey won the contract, which was signed in April, and then started work on category A and B fit outs in MediaCityUK’s A, B and C buildings in June of that year. Phil Lovell is Bovis Lend Lease’s project director and
comments: ‘We have always enjoyed a positive and productive working relationship with NG Bailey and have worked together many times before. They have a similar ethos to Bovis Lend Lease and always offer an innovative approach to what they do.’ NG Bailey’s commercial manager, Steve Black, believes
that this tender was unique. He says: ‘This project did not conform to any normal procurement method. Due to the design process and the timescales involved for the client, the original part of the bid we tendered for formed £24m of the overall project; however, the total contract value for NG Bailey was £65m.’ Asked why he believes NG Bailey won the tender, Black
replies: ‘Not only are we the biggest M&E contractor in the north-west, we offer a strategy that is based around a global installation package – this allows us to provide solutions to all of a client’s needs.’ NG Bailey employed a seven-person team to constantly
monitor, detail and measure the project’s ongoing costs. Black says: ‘This process meant that there had be a great deal of trust between ourselves, Bovis Lend Lease and Peel Holdings in order to achieve our goals.’
Highly developed: the MediaCityUK project utilises smart technological solutions
Technology The technology deployed at MediaCityUK truly befits a development of its size and stature. Ian Ringland is senior project manager at NG Bailey and comments: ‘There are a number of ways we have utilised products to best effect, from the use of N+1+1 redundancy-based UPS systems, which ensure that the “broadcast critical” status of the studios is maintained, to the 105 computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units that have been deployed. Also, there aren’t many installations of this size that use a chilled beam system, of which we used 2,640.’ The lighting system utilises the KNX protocol. KNX allows
the transfer of control data to all building management components via a system that does away with the problems of isolated devices. It does this by ensuring that all components communicate via one common language. It will allow the buildings in MediaCityUK to save energy and, with the smart metering system that has been installed, will allow the building managers to get details of energy use fed back to them. Ringland adds: ‘The lighting itself
24 ECA Today Autumn 2010
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