Pinewood announce new planning permission application

730 Pinewood studios have announced a new £200m planning application. Expanding the current site to over 100,000sq m of new offices, stages, workshops, facilities and even some 'streetscapes'.

An estimated 3,000 new jobs will be created if the proposal goes ahead. The studio has also announced that constuction has begun on a new 45,000sq ft studio, comprising of a 30,000sq ft stage and 15,000sq ft workshop. The £7.5m construction should be complete by the autumn.

Chief Exec of Creative England, Caroline Norbury commented "UK infrastructure is creaking both in terms of skills and in terms of facilities”. She was speaking at the launch of a new report commissioned by Pinewood and PwC, which is looking into the capacity of the infrastructure in the UK. There is no doubt that expansion is required to stay competitive. 

This information comes straight from the press release: It comprises a substantial expansion of the existing Pinewood Studios by adding a total of 100,000 sq m of new facilities, including studios and stages, workshops, production offices and streetscapes for filming.  Once complete, this would make a major contribution to achieving Government priority objectives to grow the UK's creative industries, promote growth and create new jobs. 

The proposals will enable the Company to capture increasing international demand for studio facilities and respond to rising competition from outside the UK.  They will also cement Pinewood Studios' position as a world leading hub for the global creative industries. 

The PSDF is a significant private sector infrastructure investment in the UK, consistent with Government policy, and will, according to Amion Consulting, have a positive impact on the economy by:

  • providing £194m of private sector infrastructure investment 
  • supporting over 8,100 full time jobs
  • creating some 3,100 net additional jobs
  • producing an additional £149m in Gross Value Added (GVA)[i]
  • providing an additional contribution to the Exchequer of £36m per annum
  • generating an additional £37m per annum in UK exports

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Last year, the ambitous Project Pinewood was refused planning permission following a very vocal campaign from local residents, who created the Stop Project Pinewood website. That plan included huge sets that could double up as residential space, more here about that plan. 

The new planning application is designated to be built on the same land as project pinewood, but is more sensitive to the area and neighbours, as this artist impression shows.

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