ITV is to sell its famous South Bank headquarters, home to shows from This Morning and Upstairs Downstairs to Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, in a move that could fetch up to £250m.
The broadcaster has had an association with the site, formerly the headquarters of London Weekend Television, for more than 40 years.
ITV moved out last year to lease offices in Holborn, resulting in programmes such as Good Morning Britain being filmed in BBC studios in White City, with plans to move back in after a five-year redevelopment.
A spokesman said the sale fitted with ITV’s new strategy implemented by Carolyn McCall, who took over as chief executive earlier this year, to “support our ambition to be an agile and increasingly digital organisation”.
“By remaining in our current London office and studio spaces we can focus more time and resource on the areas of the business which will deliver greatest value,” the spokesman said. “These [locations] provide excellent modern, functional and flexible working environments.”
ITV had been leasing the South Bank site but bought it in 2013 for £56m. Analysts at Liberum estimated the sale of the coveted location could net ITV as much as £245m.
