Makeover at former BBC Elstree Studios

BNP Paribas Asset Management has selected McLaren Construction as main contractor for the redevelopment of the former BBC Elstree Centre, which has been renamed Fairbanks Studios in honour of its former owner Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Approximately half of the 16-acre site will be redeveloped into a 24,700m² campus for TV and the independent film industry, while the remainder was recently revamped by the BBC and is where the corporation films its EastEnders series.

Designed with an art deco frontage, the scheme will more than quadruple stage space to about 9,290m² across five sound stages. New workshops, offices, a café, and improved cycle and parking facilities are included.

A five-storey ‘media hub’ will add office and amenity space for media-related businesses directly linked to the studios. Specialist developer-operator Oxygen Studios has been appointed and construction is planned to start later this year.