4Wood

4Wood TV and Film is one of the leading set construction teams in the UK. As specialists in film and high-end TV they were behind the sets for the BBC’s Doctor Who 60th anniversary episodes. The three-part series featured the brand-new Tardis built by 4Wood in their facility in Cardiff.

Building the Tardis

Working to the inspiring designs provided by the production’s designer and art department, the massive creation required the use of many different specialist set construction skills including metal fabrication, carpentry, model making and the use of a robotic arm. This was needed to bring to life the precision engineering design.

As the main set construction team who worked on the Doctor Who specials. Their creations were on display across the whole series.

Making set designs a reality

4Wood pride themselves on bringing art director’s and designer’s visions to fruition. Their construction managers oversee every detail of the process to bring to life a design on budget, on time and to the highest standards of health and safety and compliance.

Other credits include the multi-award winning His Dark Materials, the critically acclaimed Industry, Netflix’s Sex Education, alongside the feature films Dream Horse, starring Damian Lewis & Toni Collette, and Netflix’s forthcoming Havoc.

As experts in the construction of high-quality scenery, 4Wood use the latest technology, skills and techniques to create even the most ambitious sets. Their work spans running a full construction department on a high budget feature film through to the realisation of a one-off item which requires their specialist skillset and capabilities. Plus, they have recently introduced a set storage service. This secure space ensures that sets can be stored between seasons and returned to production in perfect condition when needed.

Based in Cardiff, creating sets for all over the UK

It’s all achieved within their 40,000 sq. ft. facility, in the heart of Cardiff’s thriving creative community. From here 4Wood can transport sets to complete the final phase of construction on soundstages and locations all over the UK, and beyond. This approach means that less time is needed for set construction at the site of filming, helping to reduce pre-production budgets.

Having benefited from the incredible support that the Welsh creative sector has enjoyed, 4Wood’s ethos is to spread the impact and make their own contributions to the production community in Wales. They also strive to support skills development and best practice in the set construction industry.

4Wood’s ethos

4Wood achieve this in a variety of ways. One of the most important is through creating new employment opportunities in Cardiff and helping to inspire and train new starters in the set construction sector. This is accomplished both through their apprenticeship programme and a long-standing commitment of outreach to schools and colleges.

Whilst 4Wood create sets for use around the UK, and beyond, almost all are built in their facility in Cardiff before being transported to sound stages and locations for the final fit. This creates a myriad of Cardiff based job opportunities including in carpentry, metal fabrication, sculpting and model making and scenic painters and decorators.

Supporting best practice in the set construction industry

Going above industry expectations for health & safety planning and implementation is central to 4Wood’s ethos. Their dedicated health & safety manager is an expert in their field, they are responsible for risk assessments and comprehensive method statements which detail everything from how a set will be built to how it will be dismantled. 4Wood lead industry standards in this space with their unique ‘hazard register’, this handover document is given to art directors at the point a set is signed over to production and denotes anything practical for consideration, or which could be a hazard.

4Wood are constantly improving and innovating to reduce their carbon footprint. Timber is the most frequently used material in set construction. So, they only use wood from suppliers certified by The Forest Stewardship Council and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. Wherever possible, wood is repurposed and reused for different projects. This is alongside supporting a reforestation programme, by becoming members of Ecologi.

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