Streaming giant Netflix has agreed to take space at SEGRO’s Enfield business park to build out a new base for film and TV production.
The long-awaited deal will see the US company establish a campus SEGRO Park Enfield, including sound stages and studios, as well as set production and make-up and break-out areas.
Anna Mallett, Netflix’s vice-president of physical production for the UK and EMEA, described the UK as “one of Netflix’s most important hubs” and “one of the best places to do business”.
SEGRO’s Alan Holland, managing director for Greater London, said the creative industries had proved “an exciting market” for the REIT, adding that the deal with Netflix “demonstrates the flexibility and versatility of our high-quality warehouses”.
Some in Enfield’s business community have joked that the area should be renamed EnFlix given the attention it has received from film and TV companies. Speaking with EG last month, Mark Bradbury, director of property and economy at Enfield Council, said the local authority had welcomed the industry with open arms.
“We’ve moved from having one studio to very shortly having five, with a combined floor space of getting on for a quarter of a million square feet,” he said. “I think part of the reason has been that we have the space. These are large facilities, a combination of sound and film stages that need a large, high building. And we have that.”
Bradbury added: “We’ve also been very proactive with the organisations that want to set up studios, and the developers that they’re working with, to make it as straightforward as you can through the planning process… Having a dedicated planning officer that understands [the needs of the sector] has been really important in enabling people to take advantage of that space quickly.”
Netflix has said it expects to spend more than $1bn on productions across the UK this year. Last month the company announced that it is taking a long-term lease at Aviva Investors’ Longcross Studios in Surrey.
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