Coffee & TV has recruited Prime Focus creative director Simon Clarke to help lead the Soho-based VFX company’s newly formed broadcast division.

Clarke joins ex-Prime Focus managing director Simon Briggs, who has taken on a permanent role with Coffee & TV ahead of the opening of a 20-seat facility in Bristol.

Briggs became a director at the end of last month, having previously worked as a consultant for the business, and will work across commercials, branding and broadcast.

Creative director Clarke will focus on VFX for drama and factual programming.

“This part of our strategy wouldn’t make sense in Soho,” said Briggs.

“There is a huge talent pool in Bristol, and having a facility there enables us to set up a decent-sized studio that will provide opportunities for rapid growth and incentives in terms of cost-effectiveness.”

The Bristol facility will combine Maya, NukeX and Adobe workstations for a long-form VFX pipeline predominantly for broadcast projects, but will also work on Coffee & TV’s full range of commercials and branding work.

It is expected to open in June. Clarke, who joins the company next week, said: “The co-location model with London and Bristol in the UK and our extended partners in Canada provides an easily scalable model and cost advantage for our clients across a range of projects, from broadcast and commercials to live events and installation projects.”

Clarke’s recent credits include Supersized Earth and Wonders Of The Solar System, both for the BBC, and The History Channel’s World War II From Space, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction and an RTS Award for Graphic Design - Programme Content Sequence.

Coffee & TV was set up by co-partners Derek Moore, Phil Hurrell, John Trussler and Chris Chard.