Channel 4 shortlists cities for new national headquarters outside London

Channel 4 has shortlisted cities for its new headquarters outside London.

Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds and the West Midlands will compete in the second stage bidding process to become home of the broadcaster’s new second “national” headquarters. The cities that aren’t picked to house the broadcaster’s new national HQ will be short-listed for one of two “creative hubs”.

Six other cities have been shortlisted for consideration as a creative hub only. These are Belfast, Brighton, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent.

Over 30 bids were submitted from towns and cities across the UK.

The final locations will be picked in October. The new headquarters and hubs are planned to open next year.

Channel 4’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jonathan Allan, who is leading the pitch process said:

“We’ve been incredibly impressed both by the number of pitches we received and by the high quality of the submissions – which has underlined the huge amount of creativity, innovation and talent right across the UK.

“However we have to move to a shortlist phase and, after careful consideration by the Channel 4 Executive team, we’ve selected 13 cities that are best able to meet our vision for our new hubs in the Nations and Regions. We look forward to visiting all those on the shortlist as part of our second phase, but we will also be continuing to work with all cities and regions as part of our strategy to increase investment and support creative businesses, jobs and growth across the UK.”