Camden Film Quarter Plans Unveiled; Major Development Would See New Studios & Film And TV Hub Created In Buzzy London District

EXCLUSIVE: Ambitious plans have been unveiled to build new film and TV studios in the heart of London as part of a development called the Camden Film Quarter.

Situated in Kentish Town, in the London Borough of Camden, there are plans for soundstages, a National Film and TV School campus, and homes and workspaces. Essentially, the Camden Film Quarter would be a neighborhood with amenities, housing and public spaces that has film and TV as its anchor, with dedicated studios and space for the creative industries.

The plans are in the public domain and Deadline has learned more about the aspirations of the company leading the charge, Yoo Capital. It is the real estate firm behind the £1.3BN ($1.7BN) redevelopment of London’s historic Olympia, and also the Saville Theatre in central London, which is being transformed into Cirque du Soleil’s first permanent home in UK.

Yoo Capital started buying land for the proposed site of the Camden Film Quarter in 2023 and has been consulting local residents as it progresses. It has now set out a masterplan – a big-picture overview of its plans for the Camden Film Quarter that details the guiding principles, with detailed designs to follow.

Deadline understands that the aspiration is for between eight and twelve soundstages. More detailed plans are expected to be submitted at the end of the year. Assuming planning permission is forthcoming, work could start in the second half of 2025. Soundstages could come onstream from 2027, with the first phase of the project completed in 2028 or 2029.

Key studios sites such as Pinewood and Shepperton have been redeveloped and expanded in recent years, offering top-notch facilities and attracting blockbuster movies and high-end TV projects. New spaces, such as Sky Studios Elstree where Wicked has been filming, have also been built. With streamers and U.S. majors occupying a lot of the space, the demand for high-quality studios remains high.

The volume of high-end TV production has tapered off, but the UK’s reworked 40% tax credit, a large and skilled workforce and its attractiveness as a destination all work in the country’s favor. New studios in a prime London location will be a shot in the arm for the film and TV biz in the UK.

A USP of the Camden Film Quarter will be its location; it will be situated squarely in the heart of the English capital, with fast transport links to Heathrow and London City airports. The redevelopment of the site takes in plans for trucks and films crews to have easy access, while other parts of the site would be open to the public. Yoo Capital has already interacted with Camden Council on its Saville Theatre project, which is in the borough.