A Bradford company is helping to construct a new multi-million pound headquarters for the BBC in Yorkshire.

Low Moor-based Bailey Prefabrication, part of the NG Bailey group which has its headquarters in Ilkley, is leading the mechanical and engineering side of the development of the new BBC centre in Leeds.

The new headquarters, near the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Quarry Hill, will replace the BBC's existing base in Wood-house Lane.

And Bailey Prefabrication is helping to cut down on the construction time by carrying out much of its work at its Bradford site before transporting it to Leeds.

The firm has installed a boiler consisting of 28 components in the new building's boiler room, plus prefabricated pipe-work covering two floors.

By assembling the equipment in Low Moor, the firm was able to install it in one day, rather than taking two to three weeks to manufacture it at the site. Cal Bailey, director of Bailey Prefabrication, said the BBC project was a prestigious job to be involved in for the plant, which employs more than 50 people at Low Moor.

The business was set up in 2000 to design and produce a range of prefabricated mech-anical and electrical building services products.

"This is great news for Bradford," said Mr Bailey. "As a result of the higher quality and accelerated programme enabled by off-site manufacture, we are able to offer a much more efficient and productive programme of construction.

"By employing the prefabrication method we are also addressing an industry skills shortage.

"Bailey Prefabrication is a rapidly developing business, and we are finding much greater demands for prefabrication work from the industry. The benefits are evident and highly visible in key projects like the BBC."

The new BBC headquarters is expected to open in 2004 and will be the key centre for programme making in Yorkshire. NG Bailey & Co is one of the district's biggest companies with an annual turnover of more than £350 million and 3,750 staff. It provides mechanical and electrical engineering and contracting services.