A home for the BBC in Hull

For over 30 years, BBC services for Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire have broadcast from the BBC offices in Chapel Street, Hull.

To house our exciting range of new services in the region the BBC moved to a more central location in the city. Queen's Court, Queen's Gardens.

How the artists saw the building

The BBC building in Queen's Gardens is a thriving broadcasting hub for the BBC’s television, radio and interactive TV services and the home of the Open Centre.

• Open access to the public to new facilities.
• A strengthening of our involvement in local communities.
• The opportunity for us to work in partnership with local learning organisations across the region for the provision of exciting learning, information and entertainment services.

Open centre in the heart of the city

In conjunction with Yorkshire Forward, Hull CityVision and Hull CityLearning, the BBC Open Centre offers a range of new services to the people of Hull, the East Riding and Lincolnshire.

These include:

Learning Area - a free, drop-in, ICT learning centre with a strong focus on Basic skills and multimedia training.

Web Area - a free cyber-café, where the public can surf the internet.
Live broadcasting, visible to the public.

The BBC Bus - BBC branded bus, fitted out with six computers supporting full internet access, offers learning opportunities and community broadcasting.

Social Action Desk - offering advice and support

Plus, a small performance area for theatre, song and dance.

Learning Area
The Learning Area offers a flexible, ‘learner-led’ curriculum, focusing on Basic, ICT and multimedia skills, and aims to be a first step for new learners who will be encouraged to progress to other local lifelong learning opportunities.

The Hull Open Centre is an easy way for people to use the wealth of the BBC’s learning resources, in particular our new ‘learning journeys’.

These are structured ‘online routes’ that can lead to qualifications in various subjects. We already have learning journeys on Becoming WebWise (using the web); Get Confident; The History Trail; First Aid Action; and The Blue Planet Challenge.

Web Area: Cyber Café And Workshop Area
Kitted-out with PCs, this area hosts workshops for schools and community groups offering the chance for people to get a hands-on taster of a BBC creative session, such as ‘make your own radio drama’, or ‘make your own magazine programme’.

When no workshops are running, this area offers free internet access to the public.

BBC Bus
The BBC Bus has many of the facilities that are available in the Open Centre but taken out directly to people across Hull and the surrounding region. With PC’s and a BBC Radio Humberside radio studio on board, the BBC Bus brings both learning opportunities and broadcasts to everyone’s doorstep.