Glasgow facility Arc has been rebranded 422, with parent company Creative Technical and Media Services (CTMS) spending £400,000 on new equipment at the post house and its sister firm 422 Manchester.

CTMS managing director David Jackson told Broadcast the investment will mean the Glasgow business is able to offer high-end finishing, VFX and compositing for commercials, promos and idents.

The new kit includes an Autodesk Flame Premium system with Smoke and Lustre, together with an Avid Isis 5000 32TB, Media Composer Nitris DX, eight Media Composer V5s and two Sony SRW-5800 VTRs.

The Glasgow business, which CTMS acquired in mid-2010, has received the majority of the investment.

It will now come under the same 422 brand as the Manchester post house, which has added another Smoke and Flame, taking its total to four Smokes, two Flames, four Avids, three dubbing studios and a grading suite.

Jackson said the BBC’s move to Salford was proving to be of great benefit for facilities in the north.

“It makes sense to expand because we’re offering products and services that the BBC, Peel and SIS probably won’t put in.”

There are plans to recruit more staff across both sites and to share work between facilities.

In Manchester, the number of employees will rise from 25 to 30, while in Glasgow it will go up from 21 to 26.

The funding came from a mixture of its cash reserves and finance from Media Lease.

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