from 2021
At the end of 2020 a surprise announcement was made about a new studio centre which opened in the spring of 2021. The scheme has been funded by Arts Alliance Ventures – a very successful investment firm that specialises in supporting arts-related businesses.
Garden Studios occupy several industrial units in Waxlow Road, Park Royal. As of 2025, they contain 8 sound stages and a specialised Virtual Production stage – which opened late in 2020. The VR volume was upgraded in 2024 and is now 20 metres x 5 metres, which is impressively large. There are also workshops, green rooms, post production facilities, offices and space for unit bases. Since opening, the studios have hosted around 85 productions and 120 virtual production projects.
The sound stages are as follows:
Iris Stage 1: 23,414 sq ft
Iris Stage 2: 11,819 sq ft
Iris Stage 3 : 5,005 sq ft
Lily Stage 1: 7,815 sq ft
Orchid Stage 1: 15,026 sq ft
Orchid Stage 2: 12,863 sq ft
Orchid Stage 3: 7,187 sq ft
Rose Stage 15,207 sq ft
Virtual Production Stage: 3,168 sq ft
image thanks to Garden Studios
Garden Studios are located over several campuses in Park Royal. Iris Campus contains stages 1, 2 and 3 plus dressing rooms, green rooms etc. Nearby is the Townsend Campus containing the Virtual Production Stage and 6,900 sq ft of workshop space. Orchid Campus has 16,000 sq ft of workshop space, 10,500 sq ft of offices and three further shooting spaces.
In September 2021 a 95,000 sq ft site called the Lily Campus opened. This contains serviced production offices. A newly fitted 7,815 sound stage opened here in October ’22. Magnolia Campus offers offices upstairs and flexible production spaces on the ground floor. This includes three high spec studios formerly used for remastering and suitable for sound dubbing, mixing or ADR.
In September 2024, Garden Studios moved into the old Panalux building. They call this the Tulip warehouse. It offers 44,000 sq ft of flexible space.
The three Orchid stages opened in January 2025. They are due to host a high-end TV drama from late summer 2025 through 2026.
Then in March 2025 the 15,200 sq ft Rose stage became available. Interestingly, this includes two ‘galleries’. One assumes they are hoping to attract large scale multicamera entertainment or reality shows. In fact, Big Brother was staged at Garden Studios in 2023 on the Iris campus. The first episode was broadcast simultaneously on ITV1 and ITV2 on 8th October with the rest of the 6-week series continuing on ITV2. A second series for ITV (actually series 21) was broadcast in October and November 2024. The exterior garden was constructed alongside the canal in the area between the stages, with an entrance leading into Iris stage 1.
This impressive collection of buildings now offers some very useful facilities for film and TV drama productions, large and small. With their campus divided into separate units, they are able to host several HETV and indie films at the same time.
image thanks to Garden studios
The studios have formed a partnership with MetFilm school – training is an important part of their remit, as is sustainability. Companies already linked with the project include Procam and Take 2 Films. They have said they will be using local suppliers as much as possible – which is relatively easy for them as a number of scenery construction, prop hire and lighting hire companies are located in the area.
In 2023, Garden Studios achieved ‘B Corp status’. This certification managed by B Lab, a non-profit organisation that serves the global community of people using businesses as a force for good, apparently commits the company to ‘high standards of social and environmental impact, transparency, accountability, and the transformation of the global economic system.’
Production credits include Toast of Tinseltown and The Narrows. Other productions include Amazon’s My Lady Jane, Studio Canal’s We Live in Time, Apple TV’s Trying Season 4, and advertising shoots like Charlotte Tilbury’s new fragrance line and the latest Swarovski ad featuring Ariana Grande. Argyle and Wonka also used these facilities for set builds.
