Regis Road

A CRUCIAL piece in a billion-pound jigsaw puzzle slotted into place this week – as developers aiming to build a premier film studio complex in Kentish Town announced they had struck a deal to buy a vital segment of the land.

Yoo Capital are behind a scheme to transform the Regis Road industrial estate.

Their plans, praised by industry insiders including Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald, would also see the National Film and Television School  relocate from Berkshire.

Yoo Capital has already acquired a council owned street-cleaning depot in Holmes Road and the Town Hall’s recycling centre and car pound for the “Camden Film Quarter” plan.

Now director Lloyd Lee has brokered a deal to take on nearly four acres of more land off the hands of two long-term owners, the McCarthy and the Regis families.

Previous attempts to unify ownership to kickstart had proved tricky, with more than 12 different owners of plots. Businesses include delivery firm UPS, the Post Office, a BMW garage and a number of so-called “dark kitchens” producing food for restaurant delivery drivers.

Camden Council struck a deal to sell the part of site it owns last year. Yoo, who have transformed the Olympia conference centre and Shepherd’s Bush Market, are now close to drawing up a masterplan.

Mr Lee said earlier this year there was a huge demand for production space, and added the company’s vision was “…to build on the success of the British creative industries by providing vital space for the sector to grow in central London and by attracting world-class creative talent to the capital.”

The masterplan is due to include hundreds of new homes – 50 per cent of which will be handed over to the Town Hall to let.

Mr Lee said: “This investment represents another significant step on the path to realising a world-class destination for film, television, and digital content production in Camden, a move that would supercharge the UK’s creative industry.”