Crystal clear: rebuilding Britain's broadcast infrastructure

The historic Crystal Palace transmission mast has been a landmark for lost travellers in the suburbs of southeast London for more than half a century. Towering over the boroughs of Croydon and Bromley, the huge 720ft lattice structure is considered by some to be one of Britain’s major engineering feats.

But while many people view the structure as an unchanging cultural icon, behind the scenes engineers are making significant modifications to the steel mast in preparation for the 2012 Digital Switch Over (DSO). The initiative is part of government plans to make Britain the world’s ’digital capital’ and will see transmission towers throughout the country overhauled in what is set to be the biggest and most complex re-engineering project in broadcast history.

Mike Hughes, broadcast director at Digital UK, believes the impact of the switchover will be far-reaching. ’Digital requires far less bandwidth, so more broadcast space can be opened up for things such as wireless broadband and high-definition television,’ he said. ’But the switchover isn’t going to be easy. Once you start talking about digital technology, people think about tiny chips in boxes. They don’t understand the size of the engineering involved.’