EastEnders ‘ brand new set is close to completion after the BBC spent a whopping £87million on the revamp, with new pictures illustrating what fans can expect when it’s ready.
The new set in Borehamwood includes shops and a marketplace, a block of flats, a railway line, a new Queen Vic pub, and of course, the Square, which is being built right next to the old one.
Builders were spotted packing up their supplies on Wednesday, after they returned to their work following the lockdown that halted and delayed the building works for considerable time.
The BBC has faced some backlash over the project, dubbed E20 after the soap’s fictitious postcode, as it’s already a whopping £27 million over budget.
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And it’s not expected to be fully completed until May 2023, nearly five years after the initial completion date.
MPs accused soap bosses of “badly” managing the construction project and said they made “a serious error” by failing to consider what project management skills they needed.
It was said by the public accounts committee that the BBC had drastically increased the costs by poorly securing a contract.
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The committee also found that contract negotiations had taken six months longer than planned, and that the delays had partly been caused by what bricks they should use for the set.
The corporation spent £50,000 on samples, and MPs said that were “disappointed by the BBC’s complacency in managing this project, particularly in its early stages”.
They also said the organisation “underestimated the scale and complexity of the project, including how it would age the new sets so that they either exactly replicate what viewers are used to, or look realistic where there are new locations”.
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The new set is made up of a “front lot”, which is a brickwork replica of the current set, and a “back lot”, which will be used for locations to “better reflect modern East End London”.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “We strongly reject the notion that there has been any complacency in managing this project.
“Like any building work of this scale, there have been challenges along the way including construction market issues beyond our control and working on a brownfield site.”
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eastenders-brand-new-87million-set-23831972