Once the former HQ of BBC Worldwide, White City Place has long been involved in shaping Britain’s media output. But in recent years, Stanhope’s involvement has helped shape a future for the site, working with a wide range of partners to establish White City as a thriving environment for 21st Century media, technology, art and science.

White City Place has both existing buildings that have been adapted for Life Science occupiers as well as planning permission for c.1m s ft of new space. The project has included the refurbishment and repositioning of 3 existing buildings to transform them into modern working environments: WestWorks, MediaWorks and the Garden House. Planning permission has been granted for an additional 3 new office buildings.

Over the last 2 years White City Place has attracted six life science occupiers, Novartis, Autolus, Gamma Delta, Synthace, Open Cell and Adaptate Biotherapeutic together totalling over 110,000 sq ft.

Following Imperial College’s ambitious expansion, including the Molecular Sciences Research Hub and The Sir Michael Uren Biomedical Engineering Research Hub, a concentration of life sciences innovators has formed. Imperial’s excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Business (“STEMB”) subjects has produced global leaders and world-changing innovations.

In 2015, Stanhope, Mitsui Fudosan and AIMCo acquired White City’s Media Village nearby the site of Television Centre, adding to their long-term commitment and investment into this fast developing area of West London hub. Establishing strategic connections between these two developments, Stanhope has worked closely with several major landowners including Imperial College London, Westfield London, Berkeley St James, to implement a shared vision for White City including up to 5,000 high quality homes, over 2m sq ft of offices, new public spaces, an enhanced world-class shopping offer and a hub for academia, innovation and start-ups.

Although located extremely well for central London, a key challenge was promoting awareness and credibility of the area for progressive businesses. To address this, Stanhope embarked upon an ambitious range of activity to enhance the local area and raise the profile of White City whilst supporting the development of a local creative infrastructure.

This has included numerous collaborations to date, including the creation of a major new podcasting hub and theatre, work with ColArt to realise Elephant West, an ambitious new art space in a disused petrol station, and helping celebrated West London musician Jai Paul (XL Records) to establish a new foundation to support emerging musicians in the site of the old BBC staff disco. Later this year, the team behind Kings Cross Theatre will bring a new, multi-theatre site to host major new works in a vacant lot outside the front of the development.

The surrounding area in White City is also undergoing significant change, with major development projects by Imperial College London, Westfield and Berkley St James. Stanhope have establishing working groups to coordinate at every level – from planning projects for local infrastructure to communications and regular engagement with local residents, stakeholders and other organisations.

With Phase One complete, the site is quickly becoming a busy new centre for the creative and technology sectors, hosting over 3000 staff from the BBC, and research and teaching facilities for RCA, the digital fashion house YOOX Net a Porter, creative co-working Huckletree, ITV Studios and biotech companies Synthace, Autolus, Novartis, Gamma Delta, Open Cell and Adaptate Biotherapeutic. What was once a neglected corner of the city with few facilities is now a bustling campus filled with people, creativity and new ideas.

Cadillac Fairview acquired White City Place from Stanhope, AIMCo and Mitsui Fudosan in October 2020. Stanhope will continue with the asset management of the site.