Television House is the former name of a building on Kingsway in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. From 1918, it was the base of the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...

, and later from 1955, was the headquarters of

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

/Rediffusion London,

Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

(ITN), ''

TV Times ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine published by Future plc. It was originally published by Independent Television Publications, owned by the participating ITV companies. The magazine was acquired by IPC Media in 1989, which ...

'' magazine, the Independent Television Companies Association and, at first,

Associated Television Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

. Later, It was the initial base for its successor,

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

. After Thames moved out, it was the headquarters of the

General Register Office General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital recor ...

and subsequently of

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

. It is now known as 61 Aldwych.

History

Adastral House

The Kingsway area had been redeveloped at the start of the 20th century from

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...

s and

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

housing into a broad avenue with grand office buildings and expensive townhouses. After the formation of the

in 1918, its headquarters was on Kingsway; one of two identical buildings opposite

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

became Adastral House, the name being derived from the RAF motto. This remained the home of the Air Ministry through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and the roof of the building in 1940 during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

is where, while fire-watching, Arthur Harris, made the remark about the bombing to a companion, " Well, they are sowing the wind...". The building became known to the public after the war as it was announced during BBC weather forecasts that the

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelop ...

had measured the temperatures and wind speeds in central London from its roof.

Television House

In 1954, the

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...

(ITA) awarded the first two contracts for the imminent ITV commercial television network. Because the BBC had previously held a monopoly on broadcasting, there were no non-BBC television studio facilities in the UK. Associated-Rediffusion, as one of the two contractors, needed to build from scratch a whole new facility. The company had hired Thomas Brownrigg as General Manager, partially due to his extensive knowledge of planning and project management, which would be needed in simultaneously building a new company and its studios and headquarters.

British Electric Traction British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rento ...

, the majority owner of Associated-Rediffusion, bought the freehold on Adastral House from the government. Brownrigg engaged Bovis Limited (later

Bovis Construction Bovis Construction (formerly C. W. Bovis & Co.) was a major British construction business. It was acquired by Lendlease in 1999. History C. W. Bovis & Co was founded by Charles William Bovis in London in 1885.Fountain Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...

, were based at the former

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studios in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

). Additionally, office space and dining facilities for over 1,000 people were created. A suite of management offices, replete with an oak-paneled boardroom, was built. The original headquarters and studio facilities of ITN were located on the seventh and eighth floors of the building. ''

'', part-owned by Associated-Rediffusion, occupied offices in the building from 1957 until April 1958. A computer room, housing an early

mainframe computer A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

that controlled advertising bookings, was added on the second floor in 1966.

Associated TeleVision Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

(ATV) inhabited Television House for the first few years of broadcasting, mainly as office accommodation rather than studio facilities. For a period early in ITV's history, Associated-Rediffusion provided this space for free as part of the effort to keep ITV afloat during the financial crisis of 1955-1957.

St Catherine's House

In the 1967 ITV contract round the ITA awarded the London weekday contract to a joint company formed from

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

and Rediffusion Television,

. This new company had a surplus number of studios in London. The Wembley studios were therefore sold to the then-new

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

. Thames, controlled by the former ABC, decided that a brand new studio complex, equipped from the start for color broadcasting and located out of the center of London would be more appropriate. Thames used Television House as its headquarters whilst the building of the new Thames Television House in Euston took place. When Television House was vacated in the early 1970s, it was again occupied by the government, this time by the

, where it housed the birth, marriage and death certificates of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

populations. The building was renamed St Catherine's House. In the 1990s, the building was vacated by the General Register Office, which by then had become the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Of ...

, which moved to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

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, and, after extensive refurbishment, it became the UK headquarters of

Centrium

After ExxonMobil left, the building was renamed "The Centrium" and housed several corporations, including

Herman Miller Herman Miller, officially MillerKnoll, Inc., is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings, including the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, and the Eames Lounge Chair. Herman Miller is al ...

, the

Nursing and Midwifery Council The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the regulator for nursing and midwifery professions in the UK. The NMC maintains a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses and nursing associates eligible to pra ...

SVG Capital SVG Capital () was a leading British private equity and investment management business. Headquartered in London, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The business was established in 1996 to acquire the private equity interest ...

Takeda Pharmaceuticals The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followi ...

Ashmore Group Ashmore Group plc is a large British investment manager dedicated to the emerging markets. Headquartered in London, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business, which was establishe ...

Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer Properties is an American company that invests in real estate. History The firm was founded in 1978 by Robert Tishman and Jerry Speyer. In March 1988, the company announced its first project in Europe, the construction of a 70-s ...

and Interconnector UK

61 Aldwych

Later, the building was renamed "61

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

" by the manager

. Tenants still include the

and

Production space

* Studio 7: . 33' by 24' = 10 m x 7.3 m * Studio 8: . 38' by 25' = 11.6 m x 7.6 m * Studio 9: . 64' by 40' = 19.5 m x 12.2 m * Studio 10: . 26' by 12' = 8 m x 3.7 m * Master Control: . * Maintenance Workshop: . * VTR (with 2x

Ampex Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.AbramsoThe History ...

video recorders): . * Telecine (with 2x Cintel, 1x RCA Vidicon and 2x EMI Flying Spot telecine machines): . * Rehearsal rooms x6: . * Projector theatres x 6 * Cutting rooms x15 * Dubbing theatre

References

* Croston, Eric ''ITV 1963'' London: Independent Television Authority 1963 * Various authors ''A Guide to Rediffusion Television Studios'' London: Rediffusion Television Ltd April 1967 * Elliott, Ronald (Ed.) ''Fusion: Associated-Rediffusion's House Magazine'' number 19, June 1961 * Graham, Russ
London Calling
undated, accessed 21 February 2006
Centrium
accessed 7 February 2008 {{reflist

External links

Television House
by Telemusications from Transdiffusion
British Film Institute
s screenonline.org Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Cultural and educational buildings in London ITV offices, studios and buildings Mass media company headquarters in the United Kingdom Media and communications in the City of Westminster History of the Royal Air Force