East London site touted as potential studio venue

Since hosting location shoots for Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Age Of Ultron and ITV’s Code Of A Killer, owners of business and technical park Londoneast-uk in Dagenham are exploring the potential of a full-time film and TV studio at the site.

UK facilities management company SOG Group runs the 17-acre east London site, which is situated at the former manufacturing plant of pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

To date the site has hosted location shoots for Channel 4’s Humans, ITV’s Code Of A Killer and BBC crime-drama series New Blood as well as Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron.

According to a spokesperson for SOG, Lewis is in talks with Barking and Dagenham council, Film London and production companies about the potential for developing a full-time studio facility at the site, which is already hosting other commercial businesses.

“I can see the potential for the film industry in Dagenham to become bigger than the car industry was,” SOG Group MD John Lewis told an industry gathering at the Tower of London last week.

Lewis stressed that while the site could offer a relatively affordable option for the space-hungry film and TV industries the surrounding area would need to see more props, lighting, sound, costumes and rigging businesses move into the area in order to boost its prospects as a legitimate studio venue.

Lewis added: “The film industry and high-end television attracted £1.5 billion of production spend in the UK last year and there are fantastic opportunities for more growth but we haven’t got the capacity to meet this demand. If we do, I believe London could help double that level of investment to £3 billion over the next few years and it is up to the industry to grasp this opportunity.”

Londoneast-uk is a sister site to The Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn, Cheshire, which has previously hosted TV series including Grange Hill, Mersey Beat and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps.