MediaCityUK, based on Dubai's Media City, has gone down like a lead balloon with critics in the UK. Photos: Getty

RELATED ARTICLES: Case Study: The Shard | Rotana Arjaan Dubai Media City | IN The UK version of Dubai’s Media City has received the dubious title of worst building in Britain, following a ‘competition’ run by Building Design magazine.

MediaCityUK is a $970million complex in Salford Quays, on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which was designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Chapman Taylor and Fairhurst Design Group.

The complex provides the regional headquarters of the BBC and ITV, the media studies department of Salford University, a hotel, housing and a school.

Building Design commented: “[MediaCityUK] had every opportunity to be a piece of city to be treasured for centuries to come. The reality, however, is scarcely distinguishable from the Media Cities in Dubai and Qatar that the developer, Peel Holdings, has evidently taken as its model.”