The House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee this week attacked the BBC for overpaying developer Land Securities Trillium for its headquarters development at White City. The committee also found that the offices were no longer fit for purpose.

The committee said Trillium's bid of £210m for first-phase construction was £31m more than that submitted by the other shortlisted consortium, headed by Mapeley.

The BBC then had to pay £61m for furniture and the technical fit-out of the building.

Further criticism centred on the fact that the building is now too big for the BBC. Since the handover, changes in the corporation's strategy have led to 4000 staff being axed and another 1500 moved to Manchester.

Ian Ellis, chief executive at Trillium, this week declined to comment but has said in the past that his firm "made a sensible profit and delivered the building the BBC wanted".

A source close to the project said Trillium had made a loss on the project for three years and a subsequent profit of £30m. This represented a 10% return - a normal expectation for developers.

Ian Robertson, the BBC's head of property at the time the partnership deal was struck, said: "As far as I'm concerned, the building was on price and on time."

Graham Watts, chief executive of the Construction Industry Council, said that he did not know the specifics of the White City project but that the CIC did not advocate going on the cheapest price. It should be a "quality-based decision", he said.