BBC Maida Vale studios: Broken Air Conditioning

Residents in Delaware Road may be aware of some additional plant which the BBC have installed over the weekend next to the Studios.

The BBC were in touch with us and the Council’s planning department on Friday to explain that they were experiencing a problem with a defective air conditioning unit in the Studios. The noise from this unit, which apparently is audible enough to be picked up by the recording equipment, was threatening the recording of a series of concerts by the BBC Symphony Orchestra due over the next couple of weeks.

The BBC asked our Planning Department if they could be granted emergency permission to install an external air conditioning unit which would allow the internal defective one to be switched off until repairs could be made. They indicated that the external equipment would need to be in front of the studios (and may need some parking suspended) and would be on site for up to 8 weeks.

As local Councillors, we are very concerned about the impact that the temporary air conditioning might have on local residents – from a noise, parking, amenity and general inconvenience perspective. We have spent much of the weekend in discussions with the BBC and with Council planners to find a solution which would allow the recordings to go ahead whilst not overly impacting the quality of life of residents.

We are pleased to report the following progress so far:

That the original proposal to site the equipment in front of the studios (taking up parking places) has now been scrapped and the unit will be placed on top of the studios itself, and;
That we have come to an agreement that the unit will only be used during periods of recording (although there is quite a busy schedule for the next week or so, up to 9.45pm on some evenings)

This morning I attended a site meeting with representatives from the BBC and the Planning Department where we talked through all of the issues. Despite the progress reported above, we know that semi-continuous noise can have a really big impact on quality of life for residents and we remain very concerned about this. In particular, the unit is very close to Rayne House, and we remain in constant contact with the warden, Anne, to see if/how residents are being affected. We are also yet to be convinced on the 8-week timeframe that the BBC are quoting to resolve this.

For today’s recording the Council have agreed that the will not enforce against the plant that has been installed and will allow the Symphony Orchestra recording to go ahead. We have requested (and the BBC have agreed) to immediately distribute a letter to all residents in Rayne House and Delaware Mansions to explain the situation and also explain what they should do if they are inconvenienced. Dependent upon the level of problems reported, the Council has reserved its right to re-visit this issue in the coming days and weeks and we too, as local Councillors, will also press for changes if the agreement proves unworkable.

If you are a Delaware resident and have any comments or views on this, please do get in touch. We are monitoring this issue on a day-to-day basis at the moment and would be very glad to hear of your thoughts on the situation.

Jan