Facility to move into 10,000 sq ft Edgecumbe Hall to deal with growing demand for post work

Edgecumbe Hall Clifton Bristol

The Farm is significantly expanding its post services in Bristol by moving into the 10,000 sq ft, Grade II-listed Edgecumbe Hall, which it has dubbed ‘Farmton Abbey’.

The Farm’s move is driven by growing demand for post work in Bristol and in response to the expected growth in regional production, with Channel 4 choosing the city for one of its creative hubs.

The Farm has had a base in Bristol for more than a decade, originally moving there to work on Deal Or No Deal for Endemol. It currently has a full-service facility on Whiteladies Road, which opened in 2016.

Edgecumbe Hall, an imposing 19th-century villa in the Clifton conservation area, is now being restored by the family trust that owns it. The plan is for The Farm to relocate from Whiteladies Road to the building in April 2019.

“C4’s move didn’t really impact our decision. We need the space to expand [and] Bristol is also a really good city to attract experienced staff.”

The Farm co-founder Nicky Sargent

It will open as a full-service facility, offering grading, sound studios, editing, VFX, production offices with space for more than 50 desks, meeting rooms, break-out areas, extensive gardens and two roof terraces. The Farm will keep its Whiteladies Road office and use it for overspill work.

The Farm co-founder Nicky Sargent revealed that the total spend on kit, the installation and refurbishment of Edgecumbe Hall will come in at more than £3m.

“Edgecumbe Hall is beautiful, it’s a great size and has lots of character features. It is being exquisitely refurbished and is shaping up perfectly for what we need.” 

The Farm co-founder Nicky Sargent

She said: “We’ve been looking for somewhere for two years as we’ve outgrown Whiteladies Road and have been sub-letting space in other buildings. We needed to stay in the area, next to the BBC. Edgecumbe Hall is beautiful, it’s a great size and has lots of character features. It is being exquisitely refurbished and is shaping up perfectly for what we need.

“The building is huge but we’re going to start smallish there, with 15 Avid offlines, three finishing rooms, one Nucoda grading suite and a Pro Tools audio room,” she added. “In the rest of the building, we’re creating space for production companies, which we’ll rent out, offering tailored space around the needs of the client. A number of them have already signed up to take office and production space. Rental will be on short-term contracts so, as we grow, we can take back this space and turn it into post-production rooms.”

It will open as a full-service facility, offering grading, sound studios, editing, VFX, production offices with space for more than 50 desks

The decision to commit to Edgecumbe Hall was made before Channel 4 announced its decision to choose Bristol as one of its two UK creative hubs. Sargent said: “C4’s move didn’t really impact our decision. We need the space to expand, and the fact we’ve been having to rent external Avid rooms suggests there’s a need for it. Bristol is also a really good city to attract experienced staff – there’s a good facilities skills base here and it’s an easy place for people to move to from London.”

The facility will open as a fully 4K Ultra HD HDR-capable post house, with two 10GB fibre lines connecting it with other Farm facilities in London, Los Angeles and Manchester, enabling collaborative working across all the different offices.

The staff currently based at Whiteladies Road – managing director Duncan Armstrong, creative director Cas Casey, plus 25 others – will all move into Edgecumbe Hall.

The Farm’s award-winning colourist Dan Gill and online editors Ed Gibbs and George Winfield will also join the team at the new facility when the building opens in April next year.

The Farm Bristol is currently working on the next series of Natural World for BBC NHU, as well as productions for Label 1, Keo Films and RDF.