White City Place

White City Place is a group of six buildings on a 17-acre site in West London near Wood Lane. The area once held the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition and the White City Stadium for the 1908 Olympics. The first BBC building here, White City One, opened in 1990 on the stadium’s foundations. Two other buildings, Broadcast Centre and Lighthouse, still house BBC staff. The rest of the site was known as BBC Media Village until it was sold in 2015 and renamed White City Place. The site is worth visiting for its layered history and modern role. The Energy Centre marks the finish line of the 1908 Olympic marathon with Olympic rings and a plaque unveiled by the IOC president. Simon Patterson’s art wall in Broadcast Centre copies First World War dazzle camouflage, and Yuko Shiraishi’s mural in Media Centre adds colour. A poem by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion is set into paving in the piazza. The BBC once ran major programmes like Top Gear and Panorama from here before leaving in 2013. Visitors now find refurbished buildings with new names. The former Media Centre is now The MediaWorks, and White City One is The WestWorks, both with updated entrances and shop fronts. Broadcast Centre remains a hub for BBC Global News and ITV operations. The Lighthouse houses BBC Research & Development, and Gateway Central, built in 2022, will be the headquarters of L’Oréal. The piazza and gardens designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole still frame the site’s past and present.