Awaiting outline planning permission in 2025. First phase from 2028?
image thanks to Denham Film Campus
In May and August 2022 consultations were carried out between members and officers of Buckinghamshire Council and a company keen to build some film studios near Denham. Denham of course is famous for its old film studios that in their day were considered by some to be the best in the country. They operated between 1936 and 1952. The stages and most of the supporting facilities were demolished and the land is now occupied by housing. There was one building remaining – the famous Denham Film Laboratories – and this too has been repurposed into very smart apartments.
However, the land concerned here is to the west of Denham – in fact it is on the other side of the M40/M25 junction from Pinewood. Between the 1950s and 1990s the site was used for sand and gravel extraction to build the motorways and was then used for landfill. It now has a thin layer of soil on it so is no use for agricultural purposes. However, it is currently designated green belt. In that regard it is similar to the land upon which Marlow Film Studios are hoping to be given permission to build. Those studios were refused permission in 2024 but are awaiting the result of an appeal. That result might be an indication of the likelihood of these studios going ahead.
image thanks to Denham Film Campus
The London-based company concerned is UK Wealth Holdings Development, who are owned by Hong Kong-based Zhongfei Gu. They are working in partnership with The Studio Group, who have led on the design, construction and operation of more than 3 million square feet of film studios worldwide. They held local consultations in September 2023 and applied for outline planning permission in October 2023. That process is ongoing and the council’s planning website has a number of documents and letters from various organisations that have been submitted all through 2024 and into 2025. It has to be said that several are against these studios going ahead, for various reasons.
It seems unlikely that a decision will be taken until well into 2025. If unsuccessful, one assumes that an appeal will be lodged. Going by similar timescales with Holyport, Sky Elstree North and Marlow, we might expect to see the result of the appeal some time in 2026. So, if the go-ahead is given, perhaps the first phase of these stages will open in 2028. On the other hand – it might all happen much more quickly!
Anyway, the plans include up to 165,000 square metres of film production space, including 21 sound stages, workshops, offices and a backlot. Education spaces, hotel accommodation, a retail area, an energy centre and 2,500 car parking spaces are also proposed.
image thanks to Denham Film Campus
It is interesting to speculate whether this project will in fact proceed. Planning permission was sought in the autumn of 2023, at the peak of the crisis in the industry caused by the American actors’ and writers’ strikes. They must have assumed that things would pick up again quickly afterwards but studios remained very quiet during 2024 and have not returned to the 2022 level in 2025. Various factors are blamed, including a reduction in the content budgets from some of the streamers (e.g. Apple TV+ has halved its budget). Several studio construction projects have been cancelled including Sunset Waltham Cross, Ashford International, HOP Bedfordshire – and Pinewood has reduced its planned expansion from 21 stages to 5 – and only if a streamer books the new stages for several years. Also, Wycombe has drastically scaled back its planned expansion and Winnersh went into administration in 2024.
As well as the reduction in the rising rate of commissioning, other factors are in play including a huge increase in business rates for studios (despite some tax relief from the government) and very high construction costs. And yet, according to various research projects, the UK industry will still need more sound stages over the coming years if it is to keep up with demand. To that end, Holyport, Marlow and Sky Elstree North have all gone to appeal against their respective negative planning decisions and will hear the results during 2025. Maybe all three of those will go ahead – if so, that will be 43 new sound stages opening at about the same time that Denham will also become available, if given the go-ahead. These in addition to the 14 new stages at Shepperton, the 18 that opened at Shinfield in 2024, the 12 that opened at Eastbrook Dagenham in 2025 and 6 more at the Gillette Building that have just been given the green light. And these are just in the London area. Will the industry really need that many in 2028 and beyond? Nobody knows.
