Even so, MacCormac’s architecture is not wholly convincing. He can be inclined to fussiness, and this comes through in the over-complicated exterior to his new east wing - which includes both rough and smooth Portland stone, a complex semi-transparent glass skin in parts, and various slots and projections. It has undoubtedly been worked over endlessly, but it could do with being simplified. The big change that everyone will notice most, however, is not the view up from Oxford Circus, but the one down Portland Place from the north. From there, the true bulk of the new building will be very apparent. MacCormac resisted any attempt to make him break down this bulk at the back, on the grounds that London has always had big new buildings cheek by jowl with older, smaller ones. He is right, of course. Even so, his slightly brutal northern façade - deliberately just a slice across the grain of the building - will be quite some cliff, even by London standards.

Never mind. The BBC is coming back home. Now it is Broadcasting House that will become the heartbeat of the organization again, and Television Centre - another fine old building - that will become a bit of a sleepy backwater, returning to its 1950s role as a place of production studios rather than live news. Why, after all these years of property cheeseparing, the embracing of high architectural values? It must be confidence. No organization does this kind of thing unless it is pretty sure it will be around - and dominant - for a long time.