Pinewood building second 30,000 sq ft stage

The facilities group has secured planning permission for the studio, which is expected to launch by late spring or early summer 2013.

The production space will be similar to Pinewood’s Richard Attenborough stage, which was built to service TV and film, and opened in April.

Pinewood chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said demand for stage capacity at Pinewood continued to grow.

He told Broadcast: “We will use the Richard Attenborough stage as a template but we may add a few bells and whistles.

“Hopefully it will appeal to everyone involved in all screen-based industries.”

The production space, which will include 15,000 sq ft of accommodation space and workshops, will be built on the site of some workshops that are set to be demolished.

The studio will increase the number of Pinewood’s 15,000-plus sq ft stages to nine.

Dunleavy also confirmed that a successor to the blocked Project Pinewood expansion is being worked up.

A planning application for the development of land adjacent to Pinewood will be submitted before the end of the year, which, if successful, would double the size of Pinewood’s current site.

“Consultations with the local authority are taking place and we are working on it at the moment.

“It is a major application and there is a lot of detail to be worked through,” said Dunleavy.