RMJM is favourite to design the £100m BBC redevelopment at the corporation’s White City site in London. RMJM, epr and Aukett Europe were in talks with the BBC last month about the redevelopment, but insiders said RMJM has now emerged as the front-runner.

The scheme will be the first under the corporation’s new joint venture with a private partner.

This week, the BBC filed an Ojec notice – a European Commission form signalling that it is looking for a private sector partner to manage and develop its property.

The partnership, to be finalised next year, will cover the BBC’s London portfolio. A BBC official said the corporation had decided that the White City redevelopment would be the benchmarking project under the partnership. “We decided on this project because it involves not just redeveloping the existing structure but also building a new one on the adjacent site,” she said.

It is thought that the scheme will involve construction of a high-tech recording studio similar to plans submitted by the BBC in the 1990s. Other developments said to be part of the partnership include the redevelopment of BBC buildings around its Broadcasting House headquarters, just off London’s Oxford Street.