The BBC has sold its historic Maida Vale Studios to a partnership that includes Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and film producer Tim Bevan.
The studio, which has been home to recordings by David Bowie, The Beatles, Dusty Springfield, Led Zeppelin and Igor Stravinsky, was bought by the BBC in 1993 and has become an important venue in Britain’s music history.
It was sold to a partnership between Zimmer, Bevan, Eric Fellner and Steven Kofsky, who have agreed to continue its legacy as a centre for pioneering music-making. According to a press release, initial plans will also ensure that the building remains as a studio space, with additions including a not-for-profit education facility.
Zimmer, the composer behind scores for films including Disney’s The Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and the BBC documentary series Planet Earth, said in a statement: “The first time I worked for the BBC at their Maida Vale Studios was 45 years ago. I was just a kid, in awe, honoured to be booked to play on one of my first sessions. I still remember the strong pull, the desire to touch the walls, as if that would somehow allow me to connect to the artists whose extraordinary music had resonated against these walls on a daily basis.
“This was a place of revolutionary science in the service of art, this was a place that inspired you to give your best, where music was performed around the clock and art was taken seriously. For the people by the people. This was the place that kept a struggling musician like me from giving up.”
Lorna Clarke, Director of Music at the BBC said: “Maida Vale has played such an important part in the BBC’s history, and its significance in popular culture is huge. We are so pleased to secure a sale which looks to continue the bright, vibrant future of music making in this iconic building – not only providing new studio spaces but jobs and an education facility.
“We look forward to being able to continue to deliver world-class music to BBC audiences with our new tailor-made BBC Music Studios in the wonderfully rich cultural district of London’s East Bank. The sale of Maida Vale comes after plans were announced in 2018 that the BBC will move its music studios and performing groups from its Maida Vale location to a new, purpose-built recording and studio space in Stratford’s cultural quarter of East Bank, residing in East London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”
Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky studying a score with Sidonie Goossens with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at BBC Maida Vale Studio— (Getty Images)
The BBC’s new studios are set to open in late 2025 and will include tailored spaces created to host the world’s biggest musicial acts and ensembles, along with a library housing “the largest sheet music collection in the world”.
It will host music sesions including Radio 1’s Live Lounge along with BBC Proms rehearsals and special performances from the BBC’s pop music stations, which the public will be invited to attend.
