The BBC awards German system integrator Thum + Mahr the contract for the Mailbox project in Birmingham

The move to the Mailbox is part of the BBC's ambition to get closer to all of its audiences and invite new viewers and listeners to learn more about their programmes and services. There will be radio and television studios and also a public access foyer from where any member of the public will be able to see broadcasting in action. It was formerly the Post Office's main sorting office in Birmingham hence new name Mailbox, and there is an underground rail tunnel which connects it with New St Station. The BBC is taking 100000sq feet of space on two floors to accommodate virtually all staff currently employed at Pebble Mill. The Mailbox is the largest mixed use development in Europe. It combines shops, two hotels, a number of restaurants and bars, offices and the new home for BBC Birmingham.

The BBC expects to begin to occupy its new Mailbox premises during the second half of 2004.

First time in Birmingham the BBC contracted the German system integrator Thum + Mahr for the complete design and installation of the radio broadcast section of the new operation. The contract includes delivery of all digital mixing consoles and routers. Like in other BBC broadcasting houses (BBC London, BBC Scotland) the choice is DHD RM4200. The total integration of the consoles is based on MADI for the real time audio networking and Ethernet for the control layer network. The drama studio will be the only studio to work with a Sony production console.

The schedule of the project is extreme critical as the current premises with all technical inventory will not be available from June 2004 on. As with other large scale projects Thum + Mahr will secure on time hand over.

Other challenges of the total system integration is the interconnection with the BBC's own multi purpose management system BNCS. BNCS takes control over many important on air actions like automatic control over the audio router. The turn key project also includes extended research on design and ergonomics of the new technical furniture. For this reason mock ups mock ups will be set up to verify the final design work and to come up to the BBC's high expectations.

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