Written by new-contact on Jan 30, 2013. Posted in On Location

New report: UK studios may need to expand to see off global competition

A new report has indicated that the UK’s major studios may need to expand if they’re to stay globally competitive. The study for Pinewood Studios and Creative England suggests Britain will need to continue developing state-of-the-art facilities as international production demands grow.

Caroline Norbury is Chief Executive of Creative England: “This timely report addresses a number of the key issues we simply must address if we are to maintain and grow the UK’s creative industries.

“The key is to ‘grow our own’. To do this, we need to address issues of infrastructure building on existing centres of excellence - like Pinewood, Elstree and Leavesden - whilst looking to strengthen existing creative businesses and clusters north of Watford.”

We need to address issues of infrastructure building on existing centres of excellence like Pinewood, Elstree and Leavesden.

Caroline Norbury, Creative England

London remains the centre of the UK’s production industry, but northern locations have begun to win international attention. The BBC now has a base established in Manchester and US studio productions have been drawn to cities like Liverpool and Glasgow.

The UK is a global production hub but big-budget studio productions will have to look elsewhere in the world if there isn’t the physical space to accommodate them. Demand could also increase when the UK’s TV filming incentive is launched in the coming months.