Littlewoods secures anchor film studio tenant
Twickenham Studio, known for its work on films such as Blade Runner, The Italian Job, and Baby Driver, is set to establish an 85,000 sq ft filming complex at Capital & Centric’s Littlewoods Studios in Liverpool.
The lease will see 40,000 sq ft within the 1930s Littlewoods buildings, and two new 20,000 sq ft sound stages on a neighbouring plot alongside supporting workshops; wardrobe and prop storage, and offices.
Early images of the £50m Littlewoods Studios show the new-build blocks next to the restored 1930s art deco style building.
Twickenham will become the site’s anchor tenant, with the overall Littlewoods complex targeted at film and media occupiers. The studio delivers valuable indoor filming space for a city already popular for its outdoor locations.
The deal is subject to planning permission. The architect is Shedkm.
Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, said: “Littlewoods is one of Liverpool’s most loved buildings – it’s only fitting that we give the city something they’ll be proud of. Twickenham Studios couldn’t be a better fit. They’ll bring a century’s worth of film-making heritage and help to write a new chapter for the creative industries in and around Liverpool.
“Relighting the excitement and buzz around Littlewoods for a new generation of creative people will be incredible. Our legacy will be Liverpool becoming a proper powerhouse for the film industry, one that will inspire the city’s young people to take up a career in production.
“We’re taking what is an important part of Liverpool’s social fabric and creating something that has been on the city’s wish list for a long time. We couldn’t be prouder.”
Twickenham’s London studio was the UK’s largest when set up in 1913, and went on to be the setting for a roster of screen classics – including the Beatle’s Help and A Hard Day’s Night in the 60s.
Maria Walker, chief operating officer of Twickenham Studios, said: “This is a major milestone in our history. When we saw the vision for Littlewoods we knew we had to be a part of what will be an incredibly special place.
“Liverpool’s architecture, accessibility and can do attitude sees film-makers return to the city time and time again. With the added benefit of our studios, they’ll have access to gold-standard interior facilities right on the doorstep of unique exterior locations.”
The announcement comes a week after Liverpool made the shortlist of cities to become the new home to Channel 4’s regional base, with Littlewoods a core part of the city’s bid.
It is expected that the studios will be up and running in 2020.
Click any image below to launch gallery – photos showing Littlewoods in its current state, and artist’s impression after development completed
- Higgins said the Littlewood's Studios project is what he is most looking forward to working on next year
Hooray for Littlewood
By Seat by the window
Excellent News!
By Man on a bicycle
Brilliant news for Liverpool and the region, we’re already a magnet for film makers from home and abroad, the will move us up a whole new level.
By John
Congratulations to all involved in making this happen, particularly those guys behind the scenes and a very warm welcome to Twickenham Studios.
By Liverpolitis
Great news for Liverpool City Region
By BOOM
For years Liverpool has provided a stunning backdrop to film-makers, but all the high value work – the post-production, sound stage, editing etc – was undertaken out of town due to the lack of a facility like this. We got the cheap jobs – the security guards and the runners, but even the catering was brought in from outside.
With a fair wind this will change everything and huge credit is due to Capital & Centric and the local authority for pulling this off. Well done.
By Erik de Rijkmaan
Game changer.
By Ann
Amazing News!
By Craig Earley
Great news, it’s a fantastic location and I’m sure it’ll be a massive success.
By Graham
Very good news.
By Elephant
Fab news, got to hand it to Capita & Centric, they ignore the sceptics and make it look easy too….
By Sarah Claremont
People will definitely stop going to los angeles they will come to liverpool all the time
By Pool
brilliant, come in number 4, “thats channel 4”
By tony
so many positive comments is unusual but this sort of investment rebalances the north with the south, we’ll done to all involved especially the developer with the vision in the first place
By Sam Harlow
It’s all about demand and supply, the South has the demand but diminishing Supply, but the North has plenty of supply in many areas and sectors. Let’s hope this is the first of many more to come? Well done Liverpool, you have a very long and unique history in the film and tv world.
By Lovepool