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"ITV has agreed a deal to acquire the freehold to London Television Centre, the former home of London Weekend Television (LWT).  The commercial broadcaster has purchased the 2.5 acre site, its headquarters and studios on the South Bank, for \u00A356 million from Coal Pension Properties Ltd via its sales agent, LaSalle Investment Management.   If ITV embarks on any substantial redevelopment of the site over the next 10 years, Coal Pension Properties could receive additional payments up to a maximum of \u00A36.5m. Prior to the deal, ITV was locked into a 56-year lease with no breaks on the 22-storey tower and studio complex in Waterloo, which was built in the early 1970s for LWT. London Television Centre was used for various LWT television shows, such as On the Buses, Please Sir!, and drama Upstairs Downstairs.  The complex has also itself featured on various ITV programmes, such as Ant &amp;amp; Dec abseiling down the side of the studios in 2006 as part of Saturday Night Takeaway, and the Text Santa mascots being projected on Kent House Tower on Christmas Eve 2011.   In a press release, ITV said that the freehold purchase gives it &amp;quot;flexibility in its property strategy as it continues to transform and rebalance the company&amp;quot;.  This follows the decision to modernise and refurbish ITV&amp;#039;s offices and studio facilities in Leeds, and also relocate its main northern offices and studios on Quay Street, Manchester, to MediaCity in Salford.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a454224/itv-pays-56m-for-freehold-on-london-television-centre/>