A funding package to start construction on a scaled-back version of Sunderland’s Crown Works film and TV studios development has been agreed
BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing(Image: BBC)
The North East can become the home of Strictly Come Dancing and other top TV shows, the region’s mayor insists. Kim McGuinness set out ambitions to bring the flagship BBC show to the Crown Works studios development in Sunderland, as a new funding package for the promised cultural industry hub was agreed.
A new £38.5 million investment plan for the riverside building site in Pallion won the backing of the North East Combined Authority (NECA) cabinet on Tuesday afternoon and it is hoped that construction can start on the complex in July. The latest version of the Crown Works proposal has been scaled back heavily from the original masterplan, which was for 19 sound stages that it was claimed could create 8,000 jobs.
Main investors Cain International withdrew from the project, previously led by production company Fulwell 73, last year and local leaders have since been trying to revive the scheme. NECA and Sunderland City Council will now lead a publicly-funded first phase of construction, which will be limited to just two buildings – one “super-sized” new-build film and TV studio and a refurbished Doxford Printworks.
It is hoped that the studios can gradually grow over time and attract further investment from the private sector. Ms McGuinness told Tuesday’s cabinet meeting in South Shields that the Crown Works was included in the next BBC charter, offering a “firm commitment to making film and TV in the region”.
She added: “We are really ambitious. From this, I want kids from this region growing up knowing that there are major TV stars working down the road. When we talk about the BBC charter, they know we think the sky is the limit… I want Strictly in this region, and there is absolutely no reason why not.”
Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey joked that the Strictly idea got “a 10 from me” and expressed confidence that the Crown Works could follow the city’s Riverside regeneration in attracting private investment after an initial injection of public money.
The Crown Works Studios site in Pallion, Sunderland.(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
He added: “There is no reason why the model from Riverside Sunderland cannot be replicated on the Crown Works site and in 10 or 15 years time we have not got the biggest film and TV studio not just in the country but in Europe, producing fantastic, high-end film and TV shows in the region and telling our story to rest of the world.”
After Cain pulled their investment last year, the city council hired real estate firm CBRE to find new private investors for the Crown Works. However, none have yet been announced.
The mayor’s funding plan includes a previously-announced £25 million originally offered by the Government in 2024, plus £11 million of “repayable” money to the city council, and operational revenue support of £500,000 per year for five years to help secure a private sector partner to run the studios.