Sarah Hartley

First the flagship 'national newspaper' for Yorkshire learned of new joint editorship plan, now sales department moved to Sheffield

In a second bombshell announcement, advertising staff at the Leeds home of the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post are being told their work is to move to Sheffield.

An internal memo seen by The Northerner, senior staff have been asked to 'cascade' the news to their staff. Included in the memo's recipients are the editors of the two titles Peter Charlton (YP) And Paul Napier (YEP) who were put on notice of redundancy by Johnston Press earlier in the week.

In the memo, managing director Helen Oldham said a "detailed review" of the Media Sales Centre for West Yorkshire Publishing Unit had been carried out and the proposal was to transfer activity to the Sheffield Contact Centre.

"This will create greater efficiencies for the business and incorporate the use of the new telephony system and CRM."

The reference to CRM is a customer relationship management system - used by sales departments to track advertiser details and spending.

The memo continues:

"As a result of this proposal it is anticipated that all work currently undertaken by the Leeds Media Sales Centre will transfer to Sheffield.

"Prior to any implementation, we will consult extensively on an individual and collective basis under Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations 2006. During the consultation process we will explain the procedure, consider all alternatives, examine ways of mitigating the effects of this proposal, and address any other issues that may arise.

"We anticipate that this consultation process will be complete by 4th May 2012

"In the event this proposal goes ahead, the company will endeavour to minimise the impact of the proposal through voluntary redundancy and re-deployment to alternative positions within the company and the Group."

It is not known at this stage how many people will be directly affected by the 70 mile round trip move but, inside the landmark building, the changes have prompted questions about the long-term viability of the site.

Johnston Press saw its pre-tax profits fall 47.5% year on year for the first half of 2011. But the company reduced its net debt by £16m to £370m over the same period and cut costs by £8m and reduced staff by 179 to 5,049.

From art exhibitions to fundraising events, there's plenty going on across the north of England - what's happening near you?

Today sees the start of the Footloose Food Walk series with walkers visiting an award winning corn fed duck farm and a traditional cheese maker in beautiful rural Lancashire.

Then over the weekend, children get a chance to spend the day with Thomas The Tank Engine when the train runs between Yorkshire's Bolton Abbey and Embsay stations every half hour between April 6 - 9.

While next week will be the last chance to catch an exhibition inspired by the Bowes Museum's historically significant Blackborne Lace Collection, one of the finest collections of antique lace anywhere in the world. The contemporary lace makers – called The 98 Lace Group – will also hold a number of workshops in County Durham where they will teach the mysterious arts of making lace to those interested in learning more about the intricate skills.

These are just three of the events currently posted on our Northerner noticeboard which has been opened up so that all our readers can post their own events to share.

If you'd like to publicise an event you're organising - or simply share the details of something you've seen that you think other Northerner readers would want to hear about - here's how;

1. Visit www.n0tice.com.
2. You'll need to sign-up on your first visit.
3. Once logged in, visited www.northerner.n0tice.com and click on the button to 'post a new event'.

Because n0tice.com works by sharing the information you post with everyone in your local area, the listing will also be seen by any n0tice members around you as well as people visiting the Northerner noticeboard via this blog. Plus of course you can tweet or share it on Facebook so that no-one misses out.

Here's our pick of some of the other events coming up soon;

* The Leeds branch of the Chernobyl Children's Project is hosting its annual Black-Tie ball at the Leeds Marriot Hotel.

* BlueLightCamp will be a day-long, unconference-style event sharing experiences, thoughts and best practice across all Blue Light Services in Manchester.

* An exhibition centred on an exquisite wedding dress of 1912, designed by famous couturier Lucile in the year she was rescued from the ill-fated Titanic.

Another milestone reached for MediaCity as flagship show moves on

Here's a cornflake dropper for all you early morning television viewers - BBC Breakfast will start broadcasting from Salford next month.

After all the grumbling and the will-she-won't-she stories around Sian Williams, the date is finally set for the flagship programme to be aired from the corporation's northern base for the first time on Tuesday 10 April.

Those that didn't want to move are left in the programme's past and instead Bill Turnbull, Susanna Reid, Louise Minchin and Charlie Stayt will continue to form what the Beeb cosily describes as 'a family of presenters'.

In a statement making the announcement, Turnbull said he'd already visited MediaCityUK several times and was looking forward to working there because the open -plan design made it easier for people to "mingle and exchange ideas."

"People trust us and, just as importantly, trust the BBC. They let us into their homes at what is a sensitive time of day. We are part of their (the viewers') routine, and we are conscious of that all the time."

Reid likewise expressed her excitement at the move for what she described as a "unique" show "able to dedicate the time to really get under the skin of the material using the vast journalistic resources of the BBC".

"BBC Breakfast really connects with its audience. We have fantastic, loyal, interested and engaged viewers who keep in touch regularly. They respond to stories, they suggest stories and they are generous in sharing their own experiences so that everyone can benefit – which means the show is also very real."

BBC Breakfast broadcasts daily from 6.00am on BBC One and the News Channel.

From archaeology to zines, the city's celebration day packed a day of displays, talks and events

Crowds packed into the town hall throughout the day to find out more about Manchester's many narratives.

The so-called celebration day, coming as it does on the penultimate day for the ten day Manchester Histories Festival , was an opportunity for discovery.

The big political history of the city jostled for attention with the personal stories of those taking part in tracing their family trees or hearing about the evolution of Mancunian Films, alternative publishing and more.

In less crowded surroundings of the Friends' Meeting House, a series of talks tacked everything from the city's computing achievements to the legacy of the reforming philanthropists.

My pick of the talks

DJ and writer Dave Haslam talked about the evolution of the city's alternative music magazines and launched some new magazines which have been produced by students working on a project at Hotspur House.

In the short audio interview below he explains why he thinks the hand-made print format still endures in this time of widespread digital self-publishing and self-expression.

Earlier in the day the Manchester Statistical Organisation reminded the audience about the impact it has had over the years as the longest continuously running statistical organisation in the country.

Commissioning, researching and analysing data on poverty in the city from the 1800s, the organisation was instrumental in campaigns ranging from education for all, improvements in employment law and women's equality.

Some views from other visitor tweets

BBC's flagship speech channel is seeking to woo northern listeners by closing the north-south listening divide

Bosses at Radio 4 are looking at ways to make the service more appealing to northerners after finding fewer people listening in the north compared to the rest of England.

Figures show a 'reach' figure of just 16.5% in the vast north, north east and north west region compared to an English average reach of 20.8% and 25.2% in London and the south east.

The measure of reach is the percentage of the UK/area adult population who listen to a station for at least 5 minutes in the course of an average week.

But while in both Scotland and Wales, the low level of listeners for Radio 4 has been explained by strong performance of national channels, the Service Review published in February concluded this was not as evident in the north where "BBC local radio output does not perform as strongly" - a point which will no doubt be hotly contested by the campaigners for local BBC radio stations.

The factors that were identified to explain northern listeners tuning out included a perception that Radio 4 is London-centric station and follows a news agenda set by the capital, so bosses are looking at ways of 'closing the gap'.

Lively debate

As part of that initiative, next month programme makers are hosting an event at the Salford base to hear what a group of invited guests think needs to be done described as a "chance for lively debate and idea generation."

"The event is for Radio 4 programme makers, with a number of outside guests for us to hear from and be challenged by.

"We think it is very important for programme makers to hear from people outside the BBC, about how Britain and Radio 4 look from the north of England."

The group will get a tour around the MediaCityUk site in Salford, take part in a panel discussion and hear from a keynote speaker.

The move follows the publication of the BBC Service Review in February which also came up with the following suggestions about ways Radio 4 could attract more northern listeners:

• Be clearer and more consistent about the origin of non-London productions in promotions and continuity announcements
• Seek ways to give greater exposure to presenters from the north of England
• Take Radio 4 programmes to high profile northern events and venues, such as Gardeners' Question Time at Harlow Carr and The Food Programme at the Eat festival in Newcastle
• Explore with BBC News ways of enhancing our reflection of the reality of the Midlands and north, eg through taking presenters to northern locations to reflect northern angles on national stories, as was done very effectively in the election campaign
• Explore the possibility of a full time in-house comedy producer in Manchester, to keep in closer contact with emerging talent in the north

What do you think would help close the gap? Northern editor Martin Wainwright will be one of those sharing his views with the BBC, so please feel free to add your voice to the debate via the comments below.

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

Time to ship more decision-makers out of the capital? Catch up with all the latest news about the north's media hub in Salford

Now the BBC has landed, should the Department for Culture, Media and Sport be following suite?

The case for the entire government department to move out of the capital and find a home in Manchester is being made in The Commons tomorrow.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann is calling for the headquarters of a string of Government departments to be moved out of London and spread around the country, saving money and bringing jobs to regions hard hit by the recession.

Among them is a "Bill to require the Secretary of State to relocate the headquarters of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to Manchester."

It's due for mention in the main chamber from 2.30pm but, as the Yorkshire Post noted on Saturday, it has little chance of making progress but could spark debate.

Mann has tabled his plans as a series of Presentation Bills, which also include moving the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to Bristol, the Department for Transport to Birmingham and the Department for Education to Nottingham.

Let us know what you think of the idea below.

Other media city news

* Last week we asked our readers whether the recruitment policies at BBC North should be changed to favour northern applicants. The poll closed with the majority, 54.2% voting against to say definitely not, standard BBC rues should apply to all regardless of location.

But the debate on the issue continues. Nigel Barlow of Inside the M60 posted on n0tice.com details of a visit to MediaCityUk by John Leech MP who went to see what the BBC is doing to maximise the benefits to local people about their move to Salford.

Meanwhile, " the real challenge for the BBC will come about three to four years after the BBC is really up and running, when the initial wave of talent, decides to move on to new jobs" says blogger Nigel Sarbutts.

* Manchester Confidential gets along to review the new Prezzo eatery and seems to rather like it. Writer Simon Binns says:

"In essence, Prezzo is a slightly more polished version of Pizza Express with possibly less cheese. Still it's the best place to eat in MediaCityUK."

* The FT reports that property prices in Salford Quays are up by between 5 and 15 per cent since 2008, against a 25 per cent fall across Greater Manchester.

* Guest appearances from CBBC favourites, interactive games, the chance to walk with a dinosaur, see items straight from the set of Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' film and ride a powerboat are among the attractions at a family fun day on Saturday, February 18. Salford Council's press release has further detail about the event which takes place from 10am-4pm. Free tickets for the BBC events are available at bbc.co.uk/showsandtours or on 0370 901 1227.

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

As the debate about the employment opportunities available at MediaCity continues to hit the headlines, we ask if the BBC needs to take positive action to ensure northern jobseekers fill more of its vacancies

The heated debate which ensued after we revealed here last week that jobseekers in London had been more than twice as successful in landing jobs than those applying from the north, has raised some interesting issues.

Does the recruitment process in some way favour those in the south above northern job seekers? Do vacancies, perhaps, go to people with previous experience or contacts at the BBC for instance? Or is the painful truth that the talent is based elsewhere?

There's plenty of people lining up to make the argument each way but the facts are difficult to establish, seemingly dripping out through Freedom of Information requests.

One such FoI request, on the issue of internal applicants being recruited for available jobs, was made to the BBC back in 2009. It revealed that a small majority, 51.0 per cent, of all BBC hires were internal applicants.

If that trend was applied to BBC North, would that go some to explaining the fact 4.4% of the applicants in West London succeeded in getting jobs while only one per cent of Manchester applicants were successful. And if so, would that be highlighting a problem of uneven playing fields or simply the way of the world?

Here at the Northerner we will continue to look into this issue - if you've any experience you wish to share, please do drop me a line.

We are polling our readers to see if they think the time has come for some positive action to ensure opportunities for local applicants at BBC North. Please do cast a vote, or comment, below.
* Picture: Courtesy of the Usability blog.

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

Cast a vote and join the discussion about the way jobseekers are appointed to vacancies at the BBC in the north

An incredible 66,000 plus people applied for jobs with BBC North via an online jobs bank set up scoured the country for talent last year – but how many jobseekers ended up working at MediaCityUK and where did they come from? We share the full figures for the first time

Media hopefuls from every part of the UK pitched their career dreams to BBC bosses last year but just 529 people secured jobs via the online jobs bank set up for BBC North.

We asked the BBC to provide further information about applicants, those who were successful and the salaries they're being paid.

The figures just released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act shows how applicants from some areas
fared better than others.

Close to the Salford base, a total of 23,023 people applied from the Manchester post code area and wider Greater Manchester area combined. Of those, only 233 got jobs, although this was the highest number of successful applicants, or 'hires', from any part of the country.

Casting the net slightly wider, only a small number of applicants from across the north landed jobs - just two applicants from the vast Tees and Wear region, even though 629 people applied, and only three Newcastle applicants succeeded from 718 applicants. Nine people from a pool of 763 in Cumbria were successful.

The full breakdown of hires in northern cities and regions is detailed in this interactive chart.

Delving further into the figures appears to show up a difference in the proportionate success of northern candidates when compared to those who secured jobs from London post code areas.

The Manchester figures show that 1% of applications were successful and the figure for the north as a whole is just a 0.85% success rate.

This compares to a London post codes total of 2.29% and in one of the capital's areas, West London, more than 4% of applicants landed jobs.

Explanatory notes accompanying the data provide more detail – the figure of those hired includes people appointed outside of the online jobs bank. It explains:

"The postcode data for posts filled relates to two categories of people: those who were successfully appointed following speculative application through the jobs bank plus those who were successfully appointed through application to externally advertised specific roles."

For those who pinned their hopes on being picked up through the online system, the FoI response exposes further information about the processes involved;
* 66,657 people registered speculatively with the jobs bank
* As of 12 December, 238 vacancies were sourced purely from the speculative applicants within the jobs bank.
* Of those applicants that completed the online assessment 77% (38,876. people) exceeded the cut off score and progressed into the talent pool.
* As of 12 Dec, 529 posts were filled from applicants within the jobsbank.

How much are they earning?

For those who did make it to a new job, either via the jobs bank or having been appointed externally, the majority have been appointed to salaries in the range of £26,951 to £42, 637 (grade7).

Only six trainees were appointed while 23 senior appointments made the top grade with a salary band of £43,453 to £68,784.

Download the data

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet of applicants and hires
• DATA: download the full northern applications spreadsheet
• Read the full Freedom of Information document on my blog here.

More data

Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian

Can you do something with this data?

• Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
• Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk
• Get the A-Z of data
• More at the Datastore directory

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

A busy first week kicked off 2012 at MediaCityUk with a host of announcements and planned events from the north's media hub

New year, new plans with the news that Peel Media has submitted the planning application for the second phase of MediaCityUk - a big expansion for a mixed-use development of hotel, offices, retail, leisure, residential and parking.

Place NorthWest reports the breakdown of uses for the site as follows:
- 2.3m sq ft offices
- 1,036 residential units
- 278,000 sq ft hotel
- 87,000 sq ft local retail
- 27,000 sq ft leisure
- 1.2m sq ft parking
Total: 4.9m sq ft

The full planning application is here with the statutory consultation period until 25 January and the planning committee scheduled for 22 March.

News of the expansion plans came along with news that Peel saw £10m knocked off its value. ManchesterConfidential said the firm was forced to take a total of £23.9m off the value of the scheme due to the "stuttering investment property market", although recent additions to the site's value throughout the previous 12 months softened the blow.

There was also much excitement about the news that Dragons' Den becomes the latest high profile show making the move to Salford's MediaCity.

The BBC2 programme, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to the panel of 'dragons' for investment, was previously filmed in Pinewood Studios near London.

The Manchester Evening News quotes Bolton-born dragon Hilary Devey, who made her millions in the distribution industry launching Pall-Ex.

"I love the south, and adore working in the Midlands, but I am really looking forward to returning to my roots and being back in the north."

Some of the other MediaCity news

* The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra have debuted a composition by the BBC Young Composer of the, Year Jack Sheen. The work was based on a mood experiment in Manchester in which 20,000 people were tested for the Great Manchester Health Experiment.
You can now hear some of the results via a video report here.

* A delegation of Norwegian media executives will visit MediaCityUK on January 11-12 to get some ideas for a similar development in Bergen on the country's west coast, reports HowDo.

* BBC Worldwide has concluded deals with children's publishers Barefoot Books and Ladybird Books which will see eight well-known tales read by the CBeebies presenters in Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America and Poland.

* The University of Salford has been awarded funding to set up an accidental leaders course for the creative and media industries, it has been reported. Taking place over five days in February and March at MediaCityUK, it will provide intensive leadership training, including change management and planning for growth an changes within the industry.

* The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) has announced it is holding the fifth NCTJ Student Council forum next month at MediaCity. The meeting, on 10 February, will be attended by student representatives from each NCTJ-accredited course with NCTJ board member and Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott chairing a 'Meet the editors' panel made up of Lynn Ashwell, deputy editor, Bolton News; Eamonn O'Neal, managing editor, MEN Media ; and Michelle Mayman, TV editor, BBC North West Tonight. Students will have the opportunity to question the panel about the skills and attributes needed to succeed in today's industry.

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

We look forward to a new year of activity at the north's media hub and talk to some of the people who've been part of the MediaCityUK story over the past year to ask what 2012 holds for them

The well-documented move of BBC staff and the high profile opening of the University of Salford to its MediaCityUK location may have dominated the news from the development in 2011 but that's only part of the story.

The site's evolution has also led to new opportunities for north west independent production companies.

I asked one of them, Justine Potter of Savvy Productions how things had gone.

"We've had direct tangible results. An interactive narratives prototyping commission with BBC Learning and CBBC and a comedy in development with TV Comedy. These are both new business opportunities and a promise of even greater things to come."

That'll be music to the ears of the irrepressible director of BBC North Peter Salmon who highlights the collaborative opportunities provided by the space as one of the exciting evolutions for the future.

He told me that the dynamic of the place is already changing with the opening of ventures including Booths and Wagamamas and the imminent arrival of iTV.

"Once we were the only kids in town but not any more and I think it's fun working out how we deal with them all. It's such a boost to think we won't be the only major broadcaster in town. Eventually all this stuff will break down into a place with permission to visit, permission to play, permission to collaborate."

But whenever discussing MediaCity's future, there seems to be two re-occurring themes whether on the vociferous message boards of HowDo or hushed coffee shop conversations: First, whether MediaCityUK can truly have a reach further than the Quays and secondly, whether it will improve the lot of of Salford folk generally.

The editor of The Salford Star, Stephen Kingston has been strong in his criticism on that last point and told me he's yet to be convinced.

"MediaCityUK seems to be sucking up a large portion of Salford's resources for very little return. Salford Council has subsidised a bus service to the tune of over £200k for MCUK while forcing £3.50 a day transport charges on some of the city's most vulnerable people who attend day care centres.

"They are trying to shut day care centres while having a £10million MediaCity Enterprise Zone Fund etc. So it's hard to take Salford Council seriously when it argues that it can't afford to fund community services while MCUK milks public money."

Starting a discussion on the LinkedIn group for Salford Quays, it would seem the jury's out among media professionals on MediaCity's impact - the full range of experiences from 'life-changing' to zero opportunity.

A second London?

Media consultant Katy Boulton thinks it will be a difficult for the broadcasters to create a northern influence rather than have a base in Salford which is simply 'a second London.'

The creative director of the important Nations and Regions Media Conference being held at MediaCity in 2012 said:

"For those of us who have campaigned for the decentralisation of the BBC - and of broadcasting more generally - for so long it's great to finally see it happening on this scale.

"And a major (and by no means easy to achieve) part of that is for the BBC in Salford to find ways of reaching out to and meaning something to the likes of Liverpool and Leeds, Sheffield and Scunthorpe, Newcastle and Nottingham. Something on which the jury's still out for the moment. But although there's still a lot to be done (and there are still the inevitable sceptics who seize with glee on any tiny kernel of doom and gloom) the real highlight, the thing to celebrate, is the very fact that it's finally happening."

Salmon's stated ambition chimes with that desire - he's keen to point to programmes already in the pipeline which involve other locations; The Fuse political drama in Manchester, Savage in Liverpool, Anthony and Cleopatra in Yorkshire and Prisoner's Wives in Sheffield to name a few.

But how much of that activity will translate into northern jobs, opportunities and economy remains to be realised.

Potter articulates the New Year hopes of many:

"Many of the staff and execs have been moved from London, they bring with them their contact list from the past. An media city exec said to me only last week that they still rely on many Brighton and London based companies to service and create, programme and online content. Whilst the amazing talents from the south should still remain part of the rich mix of BBC contracts, I'm very bored of hearing that there just isn't the talent in the North.

"The talent is here. So my wish for 2012 is that regional companies will knock on the BBC's shiny new media city revolving doors and find themselves on the inside, not back out in the cold."

Look back at the events of 2011 via this timeline.

We'll bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

BBC staff at MediaCity have been urged to 'take ten minutes out, grab a mince pie, and reflect on 2011. It's been a strong start'. We take a look inside the scrapbook

Bosses at BBC North have created the scrapbook below to celebrate the corporation's first year in its new home.

Created in the style of a children's book it chronicles the main events during the years and is introduced by North director Peter Salmon:

"What a year. It's hard to believe twelve months ago our buildings were empty and now they're buzzing with nearly two thousand staff..... All this is just the tip of the iceberg."

Take a look inside here.

Some of the landmarks featured include the fact that almost 2,000 staff are now based in Salford, that radio Manchester broadcast 25 hours of rolling riots coverage and 400 CBBC fans took part in Halloween screening.

We'll be taking another look at MediaCityUK in 2011 before the year end and would love to hear your experiences - please drop me a line if you'd like to participate in that.

Other MediaCity news

* The University of Salford organised Nations & Regions Media Conference is to be opened on 12 March 2012 by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP. Now in its 19th year, the popular, high profile conference has also secured keynote speakers Adam Crozier, ITV Chief Executive, Director of BBC Vision George Entwistle, and Diana Coyle, Vice Chairman of the BBC Trust. Register online at www.nationsandregionsmedia.org.

* Greater Manchester Police says a team of officers will be dedicated to looking after MediaCityUK and Salford Quays. The new team, which is made up of officers from the Salford Central Neighbourhood Policing Team, will police the area and work alongside the BBC, Salford University, ITV and Peel Holdings to keep the community safe. They will also be involved in policing large-scale events, such as BBC Sports Personality of the Year and Children in Need.

* A new Italian restaurant, Prezzo, is opening. The Essex-based restaurant chain says it has spent £650,000 developing the 138-cover outlet which will create 20 jobs, reports Place North West.

* Don't forget it's the first time Sports Personality of the Year will be live from Salford tomorrow. The Manchester Evening News sports writers assess the field here.

We bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

It's not all about the BBC! We're starting this week by looking at some of the other enterprises at the north's media hub

With the big name shows and high-profile developments it's easy to think of Salford's MediaCity simply as the new home of the BBC.

But the cluster of smaller business which the development has spawned is growing all the time and now stands at more than fifty within what's being called Media Village - The Greenhouse and The Pie Factor.

As the year gallops towards an end, we thought it was time to look at what's going on down there.

The Pie Factory, as its name suggests, was converted from a pie-making factory into sound stages and office accommodation in 2007, when work on phase one of MediaCityUK commenced. But The Greenhouse, only came into business use in April this year having previously been the main construction offices for owners Peel.

Managing director, MediaCityUK, Stephen Wild, said:

"We are very pleased with the number of businesses which have been attracted to The Greenhouse and The Pie Factory. Both buildings are proving to be ideal locations for creative companies wanting to take advantage of the MediaCityUK environment."

So what's there?

In The Pie Factory, the A-Z of occupiers ranges from a Churches Together chaplaincy called The Anchor, to TSL - the UK's leading broadcast systems integrator. It also houses leading kids and extras agency Scream Management as well as the people who deliver media buses for radio stations across the UK.

Over at The Greenhouse we start with the visual work of Andrassy Media and runs through to the games and apps development company Yippee. With legal firms and facilities companies along the way.

See the full list here and, if you're based at the Media Village and want to share news of your projects, don't forget to get in touch.

Other MediaCity news

* The ongoing debate about public access at the site was thrown into the headlines again this week with a report claiming striking members of Salford University's staff union, the University and College Union (UCU) were unable to picket at the MediaCity building. Union members told the Salford Star that Peel Holding's security staff threatened to remove activists "with reasonable force" if they didn't leave MediaCityUK and abandon attempts to form a picket line.

* HowDo reports that the BBC's base is to house all the data collected through the Domesday Reloaded project and the original material from 1986. Around 23,000 photos and 150,000 articles were originally submitted at the time.

* InsidetheM60 has posted details of a host free daytime events as part of Celebrate Sport with the BBC - an action packed two-weeks of shows, events and interactive sessions taking place at MediaCityUK, and surrounding venues from 8 - 22 December. See the noticeboard http://insidethem60.n0tice.com/ for more.

* And in case you missed it, in the video below SalfordOnline looks at the pop-up sculpture, Aeolus, intended to explore the relationship between the art of sound and the science of acoustics which left the site yesterday. More on that here.

We'll bring you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email

Start the week with a round-up of news from the home of the BBC, University of Salford and a host of creatives in the north west

Fans of Radio Lancashire's Mike West will be hearing his velvet voice coming from MediaCity's sports results next month.

The Lancashire Evening Post reports that the newsreader will become only the third man in 58 years to assume the role after broadcasting legend Tim Gudgin called it a day last weekend.

The paper says West returned from London for his regular Sunday slot yesterday after having his 'classified check' debut – under the guidance of 82-year-old Gudgin.

West also spoke to the Blackpool Gazette about the challenge of taking on the new role alongside, teaching vocal skills to news and sports students at the University of Central Lancashire:

"That's more about pace, phrasing, which words to emphasise. This is very different. I'll have to stay calm, clear and unemotional – and really try to keep the glee out of my voice if Everton beat Bolton on Saturday."

Other MediaCity news

* Manchester-based agency Drumbeat Creative has optimised the MediaCityUK website for mobile phones. The site features content from the main website, including news, commercial lettings opportunities and transport and travel details.

* A film made by a student on the University of Salford's MA course in Wildlife Documentary has won a prestigious Royal Television Society North West award. Where the Wild Things Were, a documentary on the wildlife found in Scotland's forests and hills produced and directed by Amber Eames, won the Best Low Budget Programme award at the event. Part of the University's Wildtrack series of wildlife documentaries shown on Channel M, the film was one of three awards entries from students on MA courses in TV and Wildlife Documentary, reports CreativeBoom.

* BBC Learning has commissioned two North West firms to make two new shows which will be aired next spring. The department has commissioned a new daytime drama and a series of children's shorts, says TheBusinessDesk.

* Red House has completed a deal with to open a restaurant and bar. PlaceNorthWest says the 4,000 sq ft, 160-cover Red House Restaurant &Bar will be located on the ground floor of Dock House and includes a private dining room.

*The bridge linking Media City to Trafford has won a design award. Media City Footbridge was handed the Structural Awards 2011 Pedestrian Bridges prize by the Institution of Structural Engineers, reports Messenger News. Picture on this page from Flickr user Pew Pew Pew! Lasers!

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From 3D sound to Olympic swimming splashometers - we get a glimpse inside the box of tricks currently in development at the BBC

The research and development building at MediaCityUk looks much the same as all the others standing close by - tall, glass, open plan - but inside, this 'laboratory' is nothing like its uniform style exterior, it's a myriad of specialised areas.

There's the room where user experience is assessed and monitored. It's full of strategically positioned cameras, microphones and one of those dual-way glass screen things that police interview areas have on detective shows.

"It's sort of Guantanamo mixed with Minority Report" explains one of the people working in this space, researching the optimum typography for accessibility of font on screens.

Not far away, another team position an array of microphones in a room where the sound as we enter has the deadened feel of a recording studio. Here the work to create 3D sound is being tested with technology which gives the listener the feeling of sound coming from above or below as well as from each side.

As part of an invited tour of the facilities, we got to hear some of the material being worked on - from raindrops landing on an invisible umbrella above our heads to a recreation of the experience of being in the audience for the recent performance by Elbow at Manchester Cathedral.

The research being carried out by senior technologist Chris Dunn and his team considers everything from how the shape of person's ears effects the listening experience to microphone technology. This will inform the products and services developed as the BBC pursues an agenda which is described as "advancing the technological state of the art of the media industries."

The laboratories (spread across two sites in London as well as Salford) are tasked with providing value for the organisation by opening revenue streams or saving money through the adaption of workflows or technologies with a budget of £13-16m.

It's a point the Project Director for R&D North Adrian Woolard is keen to push - for every £1 spent in the labs, the corporation expects to see a return of £2.

So some of the 50 active projects re-invent internal processes for content production, such as avoiding the data capture stage of film to allow for editing over the internet, while others look at ways of enhancing the viewers or listeners experience.

There's work underway which could mean viewers of sports such as Olympic swimming seeing the exact angle of the dive and a corresponding on screen graphic showing the level of splash for each competitor or the ability to follow all the action at Wimbledon by zooming in and out of each court.

Imagine watching Dr Who and a dalek in the room coming to seek you out behind the sofa, prompted wirelessly into action at a connected point in the onscreen story!

Or being able to search through the huge archives of content for every clip related to a particular topic or locate a programme by the mood it generates in the viewer.

It's a place of geeks and boffins, a 'what-if?' sort of environment where technology can be pushed outside of the constraints of daily programming needs.

As we left the labs to head off, staff could be seen waving on a screen in the corner of the room, gesticulating and holding up diagrams and discussing their work with colleagues. But those colleagues were several hundred miles away. That Minority Report feeling seems to be rubbing off on the daily routine in Salford.

We'll be bringing you regular updates from MediaCity (Subscribe to RSS here) so if you have any news or views to share please feel free to mention it via the comments below or contact me on Twitter or email