London's 3 Mills Studio renovation praised

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, hailed the potential of the capital’s film and TV industry during a site visit to the completed, £6m renovation of 3 Mills Studios.

The new development at the east London facility has seen the construction of more than 10,000 sq ft of creative workspaces, as unveiled by the Mayor; the renovation also includes improvements to many of the historic buildings.

The works at 3 Mills Studios have been enabled by the Government’s Getting Building Fund, via a £3m grant allocated by City Hall, with a further £1.9m funding provided through the LLDC’s Community Infrastructure Fund.

The Mayor’s overall financial backing for London’s screen sector also includes £5m towards the opening of Eastbrook Studios, Dagenham, London’s largest new studio for 25 years. The specific funding pots for both 3 Mills and Eastbrook are part of his £22.1m allocation from the Government’s £900m Getting Building Fund. Together, the projects are helping to create more than 1,000 jobs, from marketing and design to animators and camera crew.

3 Mills Studios is an iconic London landmark, having hosted hundreds of high-profile productions, with recent projects including The Great and Never Let Me Go. During his site visit, the Mayor also watched ongoing rehearsals for the international tour of the Matilda the Musical stage show.

He said: “London is a global hub for film and television and 3 Mills has been pivotal in the success of the industry. The restoration of these historic buildings not only offers much needed space for more industry production to take place in the capital, but also supports over a thousand jobs in the heart of east London. It will enable the studios to play a major role as the capital’s film and TV industries support our economy and we build a better London for everyone.”

Paul de Carvalho, general manager and head of studios at 3 Mills Studios, added: “The 3 Mills Studios campus has always been a charming place for film, television and theatre creatives to work. These major works have allowed us to increase the utilisation of our historic spaces and upgrade London’s oldest continuously running industrial site to ensure it continues to provide the facilities required by the international screen production industry in the 21st Century.”

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer remarked: “As the home of unmistakable locations, specialist talent and state-of-the-art studios, London has long played a starring role in the UK’s thriving film and TV industry. We want to shape a pipeline of talent for the future and maximise the potential of our creative industries, and this investment in 3 Mills Studios will help us do that while building on London's reputation for excellence and creating new jobs in the capital's screen sector."

Although the pandemic and rising operating costs have affected the creative industries, film and TV productions made in and around London over the last five years have generated more than £10bn for the UK economy.

This story originally appeared on The Knowledge