Client BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts (BNPP AM Alts) secured planning consent in December 2025 and enabling and demolition works are now complete allowing the main build to begin.

Around half of the 16-acre site will be transformed into a 266,000 sq ft campus for the high-end TV and independent film industry, which will be operational late in 2027.

The remainder of the site was recently upgraded by the BBC, which occupies the space under a long-term lease and is where it films its flagship drama EastEnders.

The brownfield redevelopment will enable the studio complex to remain commercially competitive by significantly expanding the site’s production capacity, more than quadrupling the stage space to approximately 100,000 sq ft across five sound stages, ranging in size from 16,000 to 21,000 sq ft.

The expansion will add new workshops, offices and a café, alongside the 58,000 sq ft Media Hub offering office and amenity spaces exclusively to media-related industries and businesses directly connected to the studios.

Paul Serkis, director of studios projects at McLaren Construction, said: “Film and high-end TV production is one of the success stories of the UK economy and there is a real and pressing demand for high quality production space here.

“Approved schemes in the right locations need to come out of the ground quickly to meet that demand and take full advantage of the sector’s growth potential. We are delighted to be working with BNPP AM Alts and Oxygen Studios to deliver Fairbanks Studios.”