Ardmore Studios in Ireland to expand

Renowned Ardmore Studios in County Wicklow, Ireland, have submitted expansion plans to Wicklow County, following their purchase by Olcott Entertainment.

The studios have hosted a number of major films and TV series over the years, including Braveheart, My Left Foot, Excalibur and The Tudors. Now, the owners, Olcott Entertainment, are looking to build a new 2,017 square meter (sq m) stage.

The plans involve demolishing a series of administrative and security buildings to make room for the new stage, which will be the biggest at the studios. The current largest is 1,396 sq m, with two others measuring 743 sq m, including one with an underground water tank. The other two are both smaller than 500 sq m.

A new five-storey “support building” with space for prop storage, changing rooms, hair and make-up salons, and production offices is also proposed. In total, the new buildings planned would extend to 4,049 sq m. 

Olcott Entertainment, which bought Ardmore last year from former U2 manager Paul McGuinness and accountant Ossie Kilkenny, had promised it would invest in the studios. A memo prepared for prospective buyers when Ardmore was on the market last year noted that “demand for Irish studio space has never been greater following the amendments to section 481 film tax incentives”, but that to benefit from this demand, Ardmore needed “additional stage capacity”.

Troy Studios in Limerick, also owned by Olcott Entertainment, is expanding too, despite the cancellation earlier this year of Nightflyers, a science fiction series filmed at the Limerick campus and shown on Netflix. Work on a new 3,000 sq m stage is currently under way, adding to its existing three stages.

Homepage image credit: Ardmore Studios