Lights, camera, action for £12m Kelvin Hall film and TV studio
Plans for a new film and TV studio to open in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall have been given the go-ahead.
The £11.9 million project aims to address a lack of studio space and boost the city’s screen sector.
It will include production and editing suites, dressing rooms, meeting spaces and a new cafe in the B-listed building.
Reiach and Hall Architects was appointed by Glasgow City Council last year to oversee the second phase of the building’s transformation following an award-winning refurbishment delivered by Page\Park Architects, Gardiner & Theobald LLP and McLaughlin & Harvey Construction Ltd in 2017.
The council secured funding of up to £7.9m from the Scottish Government for the development of the studio.
Councillors approved £4m of funding for the studio in January this year and officers in the council’s planning team have now granted the application.
The project is being delivered in partnership with Screen Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.
The planning application stated the formation of Screen Scotland in 2018 was “a national statement of intent by government to realise the ambition of increasing production activity, creating more and higher-quality creative jobs, and promoting economic growth”.
It added there is a “high level of demand for film and TV production space in Glasgow and across Scotland as evidenced by the number of enquiries received by the council in recent years”.
“The development will provide a fully structured studio box of circa 4500m² within the Kelvin Hall and the associated back-of-house production infrastructure such as costume rooms, green rooms and workshops.”
The proposal also includes the refurbishment of the main entrance and front of house, including a food and drink facility with capacity to serve audiences of up to 500 people.