Like many I was shocked to learn the cost of the new Downing Street media briefing room.
As someone who owns a large amount of live streaming equipment my jaw dropped when I learnt they spent £2.6m renovating No.9 Downing Street and turning it into a 'White House-style' briefing room. It was the brainchild of former director of communications, Lee Cain, who left Downing Street in December 2020.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT WHAT WAS SPENT AND ON WHAT?
The communications equipment was installed by Megahertz according to ITV News.
A Freedom of Information request revealed some of the figures.
£1,848,695.12 was spent on "main works"
£198,023.75 on "long lead items"
£33,394.63 on "broadband equipment."
Megahertz have declined to comment on their involvement with the builld acording to ITV News.
It appears there are 4 x Sony BRC-H900 PTZ Cameras installed on some bazooka stands as seen above. The cameras cost approx £6,000 each.
There is a small vision mixing table at the far left of the image above. Fabric covered acoustic panels have clearly be added to the walls. Having worked for a soundproofing and acousitcs company for some years I know these would not have been massively expensive.
A full suspended truss ceiling has been installed and a range of what appears to be ARRI L5 C LED lights have been used at a cost of £1,780 each. I would estimate at least 24 are in the room.
There are a range of hanging microphones to pick up questions from journalists. These seem to work very well.
It is currently unknown what video encoder is used to broadcast the conferences but the whole process appears to be vision mixed in house.
IF YOU CAN SHED ANYMORE LIGHT ON THE EQUIPMENT AND COSTS PLEASE DO MESSAGE ME.
ARTICLE SOURCES:
#DowningStreet #DowningStreetMediaRoom #Number10 #Number10PressConference #MediaBriefingRoom #Number10 #BorisJohnson #Covid19 #Megahertz #TomSykesMedia #BehindTheScenes