Salford 'BBC chief training ground' - graduate jobs

Graduates in the north of England will have an opportunity to apply for media jobs at one of the most respected broadcasting companies in the world when a large portion of the BBC relocates to Salford.

The Director-General of the BBC Mark Thompson said the move could see the next generation of BBC bosses cutting their teeth at the purpose-built MediaCityUK site.

A number of high profile departments such as Radio Five Live and BBC Breakfast will move to Salford along with 2,300 jobs as part of the huge BBC North project.

"In 20 years' time the BBC is going to be run by people who cut their teeth here," Mr Thompson said in a speech to journalists on a guided tour of the site.

He insisted that BBC North would, over time, attract some of the most talented individuals in the country to Salford. The site, which is almost up and running, was described by Mr Thompson as one of the largest and most state-of-the-art media production centres in the world.

He said: "It's also going to be a template for what the BBC itself can be. A BBC which is, and you can see, state of the art and thinking across platforms, across media and thinking in a digital way in everything it does. But also a BBC which is less hierarchical, more flexible, more open and which, even more than we do today, puts creativity and excellence and quality first."

The corporation was "on the brink" of completing the move to the steel and glass complex which is beginning to be populated by staff.

Mr Thompson also moved to dispel some myths that he said had been created about the move. He said BBC North was not a billion-pound project but one which was costing the corporation less than £200 million, and offered value for money because it is both on time and on budget.

Another "presiding myth" was that BBC staff were not keen on moving. But of the departments coming to BBC North, he said, 55% of the staff agreed to the move, which he said was a high proportion when compared with other organisations carrying out a similar relocation.

Mr Thompson said tens of thousands of people from outside the BBC had also applied for jobs at the Salford site.

With the BBC as the "anchor tenant" the corporation's move may act as a "multiplier" and build a critical mass of creative talent and jobs for not just the north of England but for the whole of the UK, he said.