
Shinfield Studios is changing the landscape, with unmatched sustainability, innovation and potential, reports Robert Shepherd
By Contributor
Published: August 17, 2023
Shinfield Studios is changing the landscape, with unmatched sustainability, innovation and potential, reports Robert Shepherd
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Image courtesy of Earth Grid The UK's reputation in the movie business precedes itself, boasting a mastery of unrivalled production values coupled with a cost advantage over its Hollywood counterparts. From the grand Pinewood and Shepperton to the bustling Leavesden and the once-mighty yet intimate Ealing, these illustrious studios have taken lots of business from Tinseltown giants over the years.
A new addition to that distinguished list is Shinfield Studios, a colossal expanse of 120 acres (with the potential to take more) and 1M. sq ft, strategically nestles along the M4 corridor, a few miles from Reading.
The brainchild of former Pinewood Shepperton commercial director, Nick Smith, Shinfield was initially a reaction to the lack of space afforded streamers owing to the fact so many big budget movies were taking the space.
Now, just finishing the second of a five-phase construction programme, it's taking orders on the scale of the aforementioned competitors. We're not focused on any particular area, Smith tells TVBEurope. We're able to take the biggest global productions around. Streamers and features are welcome.
Shinfield has just started on its fourth production with two others winding up. Smith explains how it's a real achievement in what has been a very short existence to date.
Phase one only finished in Autumn 2021 and the site has been fully used up until now, he says. Phase two is made up of four phases due to the scale of the project with phases 2A and 2B both opening at the end of June. Phase C will be open in September and deliver another four sound stages and the whole of phase two will be completed in February next year.
Upon conclusion of Phase Two, Shinfield will boast an impressive total of 18 sound stages, nine of which are currently available for immediate use. Among the grandest is Stage Three, nearing completion: a colossal, 42,000 sq ft stage and being fully soundproofed and fully air-conditioned with 50 feet to the working gantry it makes this soundstage one of the UK's largest.
We didn't want to cut corners, Smith adds. I've worked on soundstages around the world where budgetary issues meant we had to cut corners. I said with Shinfield, we're either going to do it properly or not at all.
However, do not let the two-year purple patch fool you into thinking it's been an easy process. It took nearly six years to secure the land and get the project to where it is today that is set to house the UK's fourth largest studios.
We probably spent the first couple of years just looking at different sites not because there were many, but quite the opposite. It was hard to find a site within the designated area - close to London - with 100 hundred plus acres that allowed us to build what we wanted, Smith adds. We looked around north London and here, weighing up all the pros and cons. Then we saw they were upgrading the M4. The Elizabeth Line comes out to Reading Green Park station, which has just opened. We looked at the crew data bases and lots live on the M4 corridor between Slough and Reading, so it trumped anything we found in north London.
Moreover, the purpose-built studio enables it to provide facilities and services that older ones simply cannot match. With modern technology at our disposal, which might prove challenging to incorporate into older structures, we have the advantage of concrete aprons between stages, allowing convenient parking for vehicles, explains Smith. Unlike other studios that lack such features due to their original construction limitations, our facility was designed with this functionality in mind.
Nevertheless, amidst the marvel of this state-of-the-art studio construction, a tense atmosphere pervades the film industry, as writers and actors in Hollywood united in a profound strike. While an immediate solution remains uncertain, Smith maintains a pragmatic outlook on the situation.
It's not a great time because it's has meant there's a significant production hiatus, he says. However, I look at it with my glass half full hat on in that it would be even worse if we finished everything this year and then in 2024, when we're ready to go, the industry goes on strike.
Shinfield's green credentials also make it stand out against the other film studios. Nothing is powered by gas, solar panels have been installed and there are air source heat pumps peppered across the complex.
Sound Stage 3 We've tried to think about it in an innovative way but still give the producer what they need, Smith says. We try to be as green as we can, full in the knowledge that the productions require a lot of power. We've been surprised when we turn on the biggest stage and see the air-con only uses up 50 per cent of the energy we were told we would burn. We're greener than we thought we were going to be at this point.
AI has started to gain traction in the movie business in recent years, but Smith says it's too early for Shinfield to be thinking about that right now. Everybody is still talking about video walls, so that's how it's going to be for the foreseeable. That said, we will adapt when the time comes.
Although the sound stages are slated for completion within the first quarter of next year, that doesn't mean the construction will come to an end. Building the media hub and commercial space that will be leased out to production houses, facilities companies and edit suites
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...