SalfordOnline

Peel Media announced today that Andy Waters is to join the MediaCityUK senior management team as Head of Studios.

Andy is one of a team of Resource Managers currently responsible for delivering business for BBC Studios and Post Production. His 20 years of experience has been concentrated in the TV studio environment, having started his career at Limehouse Studios before moving to the BBC.

Sinead Greenaway, chief executive of Peel Media, said today: “We’re delighted that Andy Waters is joining us as Head of Studios. This is a key appointment for MediaCityUK and Andy’s vast experience at both the BBC and with the commercial sector, will be a great asset to our team as we move towards studio operational mode by the end of 2010.”

Andy Waters said on his appointment: “I’m excited to be involved in this fantastic opportunity to create a 21st century studio facility at Salford Quays where content producers can make their shows the best they can possibly be. I’m looking forward to working at MediaCityUK, an innovative and vibrant hub, where programmes will be at the heart of what we do.”

Owned and operated by Peel Media, the Studios will include seven high definition television studios, two audio studios (one dedicated to the BBC Philharmonic), and a technical block featuring: fully equipped sound and vision control rooms; core post facilities; CTA (central technical area); dressing rooms; make-up rooms; workshops; set storage; and green rooms.

The studio block will also house the Open Centre – a split level reception area featuring a bar, cafés and an information point.

In addition, productions are ongoing at The Pie Factory, next door to the main development. The Pie Factory, owned by Peel Media, celebrated its third birthday in January and is already home to twenty businesses offering an array of services from camera and lighting hire to casting, design and IT solutions.

Phase one of MediaCityUK is scheduled for completion in 2011, when BBC North establishes its new headquarters and the University of Salford opens a new higher education centre.

Photo: MediaCityUK looking across the piazza, Salford Quays via Flickr

Comment by Guest  25th March 2010 Back in the Spring of 2007, the first digger arrived on site followed by more and more heavy construction hardware and materials with each passing day. The site is called MediaCityUK and is based in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. For Phase 1, it will be home to the University of Salford, BBC North and other media companies in 2011 and will be followed by subsequent phases on the 200 acre site. Needless to say, it seemed like a good idea in May 2007 (one month before the exciting Peel MediaCityUK project) to start an online photographic timeline journal of the entire development. Nearly 3 years on, a year before the doors open on Phase 1, I have catalogued 12,500+ pictures by financial quarter, month and day. The timeline journal is updated weekly to provide all interested parties (both visitors and those involved in the construction) with a snapshot status of the MediaCityUK development project. The problem I had was getting close to the large scale development in the quays, that is ‘to be intimate without being intrusive’. Time then to test a modern compact camera with a good optical zoom and image stabilisation. I have 3 main vantage points to shoot from. The iconic Lowry Centre at the centre of the quays, the Imperial War Museum North observation tower (the 30 metre Air Shard viewing platform ) and the back of the development site, a road called Broadway which runs the length of Salford Quays (about a mile long). I actually work as an IT Manager about 500 yards from the site and have been based in Salford Quays for nearly 15 years. Each time I pop over for a coffee (too many coffees for sure). Most of the site, like the rest of Salford Quays is bounded by water and provides a picturesque backdrop to the diverse and ever increasing disparate architecture of the once flat terrain. When I took up residence in the quays back in the mid-nineties, there were very few landmarks to navigate by. MediaCityUK provides yet another attractive and modern set of buildings to the current eye-catching mix. The BBC North main building provides a full glass façade to reflect the iconic buildings that surround it, and is itself reflected in the water. Hundreds of new media jobs are being created as part of the first phase opening of the site and to make access to MediaCityUK easier, a new pedestrian bridge is being built to accompany the current Millennium Bridge which crosses over from the Lowry Centre to the Old Trafford side, close to the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ football ground. I would never describe myself as a professional photographer, just an enthusiastic amateur who has fully embraced the digital age of compact cameras (my first in 2000). As you will see from the online photographic timeline, I have been able to get close to every stage of the MediaCityUK build with good clarity. This even includes the stage by stage erection of the large cranes on the site. For anybody involved in the media or currently at university studying related disciplines including photography and photographic techniques, the MediaCityUK development represents an exciting prospect. I thought readers might like to see the extensive build 1 year off completion in 2011. Around 50% of the BBC staff (for the appropriate BBC departments) are moving from the south to Salford Quays leaving a lot of job roles to fill. This is aside of all the other media companies that will eventually settle at MediaCityUK. My MediaCityUK Photographic Timeline is located at, www.mediacityuksalfordquays.net/mcuk.htm. This link will always redirect to the current month’s photographs rendered at 800 x 600 resolution so that the web pages load quickly. There is also a link to an abridged timeline of 300 photographs resized to 1024 x 768 resolution. This shows the construction from the same point over nearly 3 years (excuse the Manchester clouds). Each page contains links to related articles and the official MediaCityUK website.