Crown Works Studios: Lights, Camera, Action

Lichfields is delighted to announce that plans for one of the largest tv and film making complexes in Europe were approved at Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee this evening.

The project is being brought forward by FulwellCain Studios Limited in conjunction with Sunderland City Council and will bring Hollywood to Sunderland. Fulwell 73 is a multi-award winning film and TV production company with multiple Emmys, Baftas and Golden Globes and strong connections to A list stars including Tom Cruise, Harry Styles and James Corden. Fulwell are behind some of the most talked about filmed content on the planet, including Amazon hit Cinderella, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Kardashians, Sunderland Till I Die and Ed Sheeran: The Sum of it All.

Boosting the North East’s position as a vibrant centre for the creative and visual arts, the ambitious Crown Woks Studios development will deliver 154,215 sqm (1.66 million sqft) of floorspace, including sound stages for filming, offices for post-production processes (e.g. visual special effects writing) and workshops for creating and maintaining the film studios, props, sets and equipment.

The proposals are expected to deliver a huge contribution to the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, with most significant economic benefits including:

• £474.7 million capital investment;
   
• Around 905 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs on-site and a further 1,095 FTE indirect jobs during each year of construction;
   
• Up to 2,695 gross FTE jobs within the site and a further 780 FTE indirect jobs within Sunderland;
   
• £217 million of direct GVA and a further £44.5 million of net additional GVA resulting from indirect employment per year; and
   
• Local training opportunities and jobs.

Lichfields has delivered a range of services including organisation of the public consultation, Environmental Impact Assessment co-ordination, preparation of a Planning and Sustainability Statement, Heritage Statement, Socio-Economic Assessment and Health Impact Assessment, as well as preparing and submitting the planning application.