The new Gillette Building Film Studios has been designed by Gensler. It has been inspired by the unique characteristics of the existing architecture on site, providing a modern counterpart to the site’s existing and heritage buildings.
Features which have served as inspiration include:
- Corrugated metal beneath the Gillette Building’s unique windows has inspired the banded cladding of the new studio buildings
- A unique green finish for the clock tower used for signage and to help people find their way around the site.
- Clock tower lighting inspired ‘Studios’ signage visible from the Great West Road.
- Horizontal banding around the stonework entrance and NatWest window pattern reflected in link between NatWest and the Campbells building.
- Studio buildings broken down into a tri-partite arrangement to reflect the massing and rhythm of Campbells building and neighbouring Art Deco landmarks on the Great West Road.
The aspiration is to be at the cutting edge of virtual production, film, and digital content creation and production technology, which will attract the best productions to the site and position the studios in the highest echelons of production spaces in London and globally.
The local policy context
The site is located within the Great West Corridor Opportunity Area, which is a focus area for growth in which the Mayor of London and the London Borough of Hounslow seek to deliver 14,000 new jobs. It is also within a designated Creative Enterprise Zone, in which creative industries such as film production are encouraged.
The London Borough of Hounslow is intending to bring forward an emerging Local Plan, which will include a draft allocation for the Gillette site to deliver:
‘A major new creative hub drawing on its unique heritage to deliver flexible creative film, digital and media including studios and their supporting uses making the most of the building’s large floorplates and attractive features’.
Draft Site Allocation 3 in the London Borough of Hounslow’s emerging Local Plan