Blackstone and Hudson Pacific Properties Announce Plans for New World-Class Film and TV Studios in the UK
2.8.2021 10:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) plan to create a major new centre for film, TV and digital production in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005278/en/
Artist Impression No. 1 (Photo: Business Wire)
Funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate Partners and Hudson Pacific Properties acquired a 91-acre site, 17 miles north of central London, through a joint venture for £120 million. The acquisition, with an expected total investment of over £700 million, will be the partners’ first expansion of their Sunset Studios platform outside of the US.
The proposed development, which is subject to planning permission, would transform the site into one of the largest world-class film and television studio campuses. The project is expected to create over 4,500 permanent jobs for Broxbourne and the surrounding community and contribute more than £300 million annually into the local economy.
This transaction is a continuation of Blackstone’s existing joint venture with Hudson Pacific, a leading Los Angeles-based office and studio owner and operator. Together, Blackstone and Hudson Pacific own a media portfolio that totals 3.5 million square feet, including 35 active sound stages and on-site creative offices, as well as development rights. Sunset Studios has hosted some of the biggest small and big screen hits including When Harry Met Sally and La La Land as well as numerous Academy Award winning films.
James Seppala, Head of Blackstone Real Estate Europe, said: “We are excited to expand our partnership with Hudson Pacific into the UK, and intend to deliver a world-class studio facility that will help ensure that the UK continues to be a premier destination for content production globally. This is a continuation of our thematic investment focus and long-term conviction in media, entertainment and content creation.”
Victor Coleman, Chairman and CEO of Hudson Pacific, said: “We are thrilled to expand our Sunset Studios platform in the UK, a global hub for film and television production. With our expertise developing and operating state-of-the-art media campuses and Blackstone’s resources and existing market presence, we are confident this facility will be in high demand from leading content creators. We look forward to working with Broxbourne Council to ensure the project has a meaningful positive impact on the local community.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “This investment is excellent news for the UK’s film and TV industry, pumping hundreds of millions of pounds into the local economy and creating thousands of jobs for the people of Hertfordshire. The creative industries are at the heart of our plans to build back better. This will be a hub for both UK and international productions, showcasing home-grown talent on the global stage.”
Oliver Dowden MP, Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “This new studio is yet another vote of confidence in the UK’s booming film and TV industry. Through the British Film Commission, we’re supporting the development of stage spaces like this across the UK - boosting the local economy and backing our world-class creatives to make the next Bond blockbuster or bingeworthy box set.”
Cllr. Lewis Cocking, Leader of Broxbourne Borough Council, said: “This represents a fantastic opportunity for the people of our borough. Creative Industries are of strategic importance to us and the creation of over 4,500 permanent new jobs and the associated boost to the local economy is just what we need following the pandemic. We look forward to working with Blackstone and Hudson Pacific to help deliver significant positive change in Broxbourne.”
Artist impressions of the proposed development can be downloaded here and here.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $684 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Hudson Pacific Properties
Hudson Pacific is a real estate investment trust with a portfolio of office and studio properties totaling nearly 20 million square feet, including land for development. Focused on premier West Coast epicenters of innovation, media and technology, its anchor tenants include Fortune 500 and leading growth companies such as Netflix, Google, Square, Uber, NFL Enterprises and more. Hudson Pacific is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol HPP and listed as a component of the S&P MidCap 400 Index. For more information visit HudsonPacificProperties.com.
Notes to editors: list of notable productions that have been filmed at Sunset Studios include:
- Project Runway
- Scandal
- X-Men (2000)
- When Harry Met Sally
- Karate Kid
- I Love you, Man
- Zoolander
- La La Land
- Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
- True Blood
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- Golden Girls
- Hannah Montana
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (Academy Awards Best Picture winner)
- Lost Horizon
- Six Feet Under
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005278/en/
Contact information
Media
For Blackstone
Paul Stephenson
Hanbury
paul.stephenson@hanburystrategy.com
Tel: 07725 610 696
Niamh Fogarty
Hanbury
niamh.fogarty@hanburystrategy.com
Tel: 07946 813 843
For Hudson Pacific Properties
Glesni Thomas
FleishmanHillard
glesni.thomas@fleishman.com
Tel: 07528 383 508
Julia Hipkiss
FleishmanHillard
julia.hipkiss@fleishman.com
Tel: 07827896036
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Faire Marks Five Years of Growth Outside North America: Over 100,000 Retailers, 50,000 Brands, and More Than One in Four Brands Now Selling Across Borders11.6.2026 12:05:00 EEST | Press release
Five years after launching outside North America, Faire’s community of more than 100,000 retailers and 50,000 brands across 30+ countries in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand shows a retail sector that is innovating and thriving, well beyond the big cities. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260611115823/en/ Faire Celebrates 5 Years of Growth in Europe "It has been a phenomenal five years for Faire internationally, and the opportunity ahead has never been clearer,” said Olivier Buffon, VP and Head of International at Faire. “Europe represents a retail market comparable in scale to North America, and the challenges Faire was built to solve exist wherever independent retail exists. A global platform is more valuable for everyone, and we’re so proud to support businesses becoming more confident and more global in how they buy and sell.” A Retailer Network Spanning Tens of Thousands of Towns Independent retail is al
Stallergenes Greer Will Present New Evidence on Long-term Outcomes in Allergen Immunotherapy at EAACI 202611.6.2026 11:09:00 EEST | Press release
Stallergenes Greer, a global leader in allergy care, will present new clinical evidence and scientific advances in allergen immunotherapy (AIT) at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) congress, taking place from June 12 to 15 in Istanbul, Turkey. The company will host a scientific symposium entitled “From Nobel Prize discovery to AIT clinical evidence: Shaping pathways to respiratory allergy remission.”Three leading international experts will explore how landmark breakthroughs in immunology have deepened our understanding of immune tolerance, presenting emerging data on remission and long-term outcomes in respiratory allergy. Together, these insights reinforce AIT’s disease-modifying potential and its growing role in personalised medicine. “EAACI 2026 is an exceptional forum for the global allergy community to exchange knowledge and advance the field. Stallergenes Greer is proud contribute to these conversations, bringing together world-leading experts in pur
NIPPON KINZOKU’s “FINE PIPE” Series Welded Drawn Pipes Outperforming Seamless Pipes11.6.2026 11:01:00 EEST | Press release
NIPPON KINZOKU CO., LTD. (TOKYO:5491) (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) has commercialized its “FINE PIPE” series *1, -welded drawn pipes that outperform traditional seamless pipes. By leveraging its unique expertise as a material manufacturer and proprietary processing technologies (welding, drawing, and annealing), the company delivers high-quality, eco-friendly, and cost-effective solutions. FINE PIPE is already widely adopted across various sectors, including automotive parts, measuring instruments, and industrial equipment, to meet the most demanding precision requirements. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260611874307/en/ In response to the growing demand for higher performance and faster processing in analytical and medical devices, NIPPON KINZOKU has developed two innovative products based on its FINE PIPE technology: "High-Precision Inner Surface" small-diameter tubes and "FINE PEEK-ST" stainless steel
Comrade Trustee Services goes live with Smartstream’s Air, the AI reconciliation and data automation solution11.6.2026 10:55:00 EEST | Press release
Smartstream, the trusted data solutions provider for leading global financial institutions and enterprises, today announces that Comrade Trustee Services Limited (CTSL), trustee for the Defence Force Retirement Benefit Fund in Papua New Guinea, has gone live with Smartstream’s Air, the AI reconciliation and data automation solution – cutting processing times from eight hours to under five minutes. The go-live delivers a fully automated, straight-through reconciliation workflow, enabling CTSL to significantly improve operational efficiency, accuracy and auditability. CTSL operates in a complex data environment, reconciling multiple file types, including fixed-length files and PDFs, requiring advanced matching logic. To manage this and scale, CTSL adopted Air for its ability to handle diverse data structures, custom integrations, and ETL-based transformations, delivering high automation and match rates. This has replaced manual data collection and Excel pre-processing, cutting processing
Wolters Kluwer enhances its Libra legal AI workspace in Italy by adding content specializations for One and integrating with Kleos11.6.2026 10:00:00 EEST | Press release
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory announced today new content and feature integrations in its legal AI workspace Libra by Wolters Kluwer for the Italian market. Customers will have access to additional expert-generated content in compliance, criminal law and tax law, and profit from the integration with Kleos, the cloud-based practice management solution for law firms. Designed to support the daily work of legal professionals, Libra by Wolters Kluwer combines advanced AI functionalities with trusted sources and authoritative, author-generated legal content. Within a single environment, it enables research, analysis and drafting activities based on reliable sources, while maintaining full control over results and quality. By integrating additional expert content from One, Wolters Kluwer’s leading legal research platform, Libra offers even more focused and up-to-date content, enabling more precise analysis of specific topics, and foster direct integration between legal research and opera
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom