BBC Newcastle Broadcasting Centre

BBC North East & Cumbria has its headquarters and studios at Broadcasting Centre, Spital Tongues, Newcastle upon Tyne. The first live broadcast from the building was on Saturday 16 January 1988, with the first Look North broadcast the following Monday. The building itself housed two studios, A and B, with the studio complex housing the regional news team, BBC Radio Newcastle and some network productions, with BBC North East specialising in children’s television. Look North was based in the large studio A, but moved to the smaller studio B when a network production was using studio A.

Look North was permanently moved to studio A in 2000 following the reduction in the number of network productions. This move prevented the studio itself from being closed, as happened in the Midlands and the North West; the studio was not too big, so could house the programme comfortably.

The building itself has distinctive architecture, with glass panels and walls coloured in varying shades of pink, resulting in the building gaining the nickname from local residents and staff of “The Pink Palace”.