From Ford to Film: The Changing Shape of London’s Industrial Future

Film studios are becoming one of the defining features of London’s changing economy. From Dagenham to Elstree, former industrial sites are being reimagined for creative production, raising important questions about regeneration, employment and what a productive twenty-first century London should look like.

A New Kind of Industry

For generations, Dagenham symbolised London’s industrial strength. Tens of thousands of people worked at the Ford Motor Company’s vast manufacturing complex, producing vehicles exported around the world and helping to cement east London’s reputation as a place that made things. Although manufacturing has declined, the borough’s identity remains closely tied to that industrial heritage. Today, a different kind of production is taking shape just a short distance away in the form of Eastbrook Studios.

The shift from Ford to film might look like one industry replacing another. In reality, it reveals something more significant about how London’s economy is evolving. Across the capital, industrial land is being reimagined for new forms of production that combine manufacturing, technology, logistics and the creative industries. Film production is one of the clearest examples of that transition.

Film studios deserve far more attention than they receive in the entertainment pages. In recent weeks, The London Society has explored how the Draft London Plan seeks to balance competing demands for housing, employment land and infrastructure, while our article on Brick Lane’s hidden data centres examined the specialist buildings that underpin London’s digital economy. Film studios are part of the same conversation because like data centres, they are essential pieces of economic infrastructure that most Londoners rarely see but from which many benefit.

The bigger story is not Hollywood’s (re)arrival in London. It is how the capital continues to reinvent what it produces and how industrial land is adapting to support new industries without losing its productive purpose. The choices being made today about where these industries can grow will help shape London’s economy for decades to come.

London Is Still Making Things

It is easy to think of film studios as cultural venues, but they are also industrial workplaces. Behind every finished film or television series sits a complex production process involving carpenters, steel fabricators, scenic artists, electricians, costume makers, caterers, transport operators, visual effects specialists, digital technicians and logistics teams. Many of these people will never appear in the credits, yet their work is as essential to a production as the actors that audiences see on screen.

A modern studio campus is a place where physical and digital production come together at scale. Perhaps this explains why the UK’s screen industries have become an increasingly important part of the national economy. London remains at the centre of that success, combining world-class creative talent with specialist supply chains, post-production expertise and international connectivity. The rapid growth of global streaming platforms has, in turn, driven unprecedented demand for studio space, prompting investment in a new generation of production campuses across London, the wider South-East and beyond.

London’s screen economy also reaches beyond the production process itself. Films and television programmes turn the city into an international shop window, with locations becoming destinations in their own right. From Notting Hill to the crowds of Harry Potter fans heading to King’s Cross, screen productions influence how millions of people encounter and imagine London. The economic impact therefore extends from the studios and their supply chains into tourism, hospitality and the wider cultural economy.

This changing definition of industry is increasingly recognised in planning policy. As London considers how to balance homes, employment and infrastructure through the Draft London Plan, film studios illustrate why productive land remains essential to the capital’s future.

From Dagenham to Elstree: Investing in London’s Creative Economy

The recent growth of London’s studio sector is not the story of a single development though. It is the result of sustained investment across a network of production campuses that together are reshaping part of the capital’s economic geography.

Eastbrook Studios in Dagenham is one of the clearest expressions of that confidence. Built on the former Sanofi pharmaceutical site, the £350 million development has been operational since January 2025, with 12 sound stages, workshops, production offices and extensive backlot space. It is expected to support around 1,200 jobs while helping to diversify Barking and Dagenham’s economy alongside advanced manufacturing, logistics, life sciences and digital industries.

Eastbrook, however, is only part of a much bigger story. Just to the north-west, Sky Studios Elstree demonstrates what success looks like once a studio campus becomes established. Opened in 2022 as one of Europe’s most technologically advanced production facilities, it has been home to productions including Wicked, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, How to Train Your Dragon and Paddington in Peru, and has secured approval for further expansion. That willingness to invest again sends an important signal. It suggests confidence not simply in one site, but in London’s long-term role as a global centre for screen production.

Although very different in age and context, both developments illustrate the same principle. Large-scale studio campuses represent long-term commitments to skilled employment and specialist infrastructure. They require significant capital investment, highly skilled workforces and extensive supply chains, making them very different from commercial developments that can adapt more easily to changing market conditions.

Their locations are equally significant. Neither development occupies central London. Instead, both have found homes on sites with the space, accessibility and industrial character that large-scale production requires. Together they demonstrate that former industrial land can evolve for globally competitive industries while continuing to provide jobs, investment and opportunity.

For London, that may prove to be the more important story. The question is not whether the city should preserve the industries of the past, but whether it is creating enough space for the industries that will sustain its future prosperity.

A Production Ecosystem, Not a Collection of Studios

No studio succeeds on its own. Every production depends on a network of specialist businesses, suppliers and skills that stretches across London and beyond. Historic studios such as Pinewood, Shepperton, Leavesden, Ealing, Elstree and Three Mills continue to anchor the industry, while newer investment at Eastbrook, Sky Studios Elstree and planned developments including Camden Film Quarter, Sunset Waltham Cross and Hertswood Studios are expanding its capacity. Together, they form one of Europe’s largest concentrations of screen production.

Borehamwood shows how that clustering works at a local level. Film production has been part of the area’s economy for more than a century, creating a concentration of studios, skilled crews and specialist suppliers that newer entrants can draw upon. Elstree Studios and the former BBC Elstree Centre established a production heritage that is now being reinforced by Sky Studios Elstree, where 12 sound stages are set to be joined by ten more following approval of a major expansion.

The attraction is not simply the availability of land. Borehamwood combines large employment sites with proximity to London, established transport connections and generations of industry knowledge. Sky Studios Elstree is less than 25 minutes by train from St Pancras, yet has the space required for sound stages, workshops and large-scale production. Once a cluster of this kind becomes established, the presence of competitors can become an advantage: productions gain access to experienced crews, suppliers and infrastructure that would be much harder to assemble in isolation.

Sky’s decision to expand therefore reinforces rather than disrupts the area’s existing studio economy. The approved development will take the campus to 22 stages across 65 acres, with Sky estimating that it could attract £2 billion of production investment and support more than 2,000 jobs during its first five years. Borehamwood provides a particularly clear example of how decades of accumulated skills and infrastructure can continue to attract new investment rather than being displaced by it.

The benefits spread far beyond the studios themselves. Every major production supports businesses supplying construction materials, lighting, security, catering, transport, accommodation, equipment hire, digital technology and professional services. Universities, further education colleges and organisations such as ScreenSkills and the National Film and Television School help develop the next generation of technicians, craftspeople and production specialists, strengthening the pipeline of talent that underpins the industry’s continued growth.

This interconnected model also makes the sector more resilient. Individual productions may come and go, but the skills, businesses and infrastructure remain. As one project finishes, another can draw on the same workforce and supply chain, allowing knowledge, experience and investment to circulate across the wider economy rather than being tied to a single employer or location.

Economic clusters do not happen by accident. They develop over decades through investment, education, infrastructure and planning decisions that allow related businesses to grow together. Once established, they become increasingly difficult for competing cities to replicate.

London’s screen industry is now reaching that level of maturity. The question is no longer whether the capital can attract film production, but how it continues to provide the space and conditions for that wider ecosystem to thrive.

Beyond the Screen: Success Brings New Choices

London’s growing studio network is undoubtedly a success story. It has attracted international investment, strengthened one of the world’s leading creative industries and created opportunities for thousands of people working across an exceptionally diverse range of professions. Success, however, brings new choices and inevitable trade-offs.

The demand for studio space reflects a wider challenge facing London. As new industries expand, they compete for the same finite resource: land. Housing, logistics, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, data centres and creative production all require space to grow. The question is no longer simply where development should happen, but how London balances competing economic priorities while continuing to accommodate a growing population.

This is one of the central tensions running through the Draft London Plan. The conversation is often framed as homes versus industry, yet the reality is more complex. A successful city depends on both. New homes are essential, but so too are the workplaces, infrastructure and investment that provide people with livelihoods and sustain London’s economy.

That is why debates about employment land deserve far wider public attention. Once specialist sites are lost, they are rarely replaced. Modern industries frequently require large, adaptable spaces with good transport connections, robust utilities and room for future expansion. These characteristics cannot easily be recreated in dense mixed-use neighbourhoods after the land has been redeveloped for other purposes.

The screen industry illustrates that dilemma particularly well. Today’s demand for production space reflects decades of investment in skills, education and supporting businesses. If London wishes to remain internationally competitive, it cannot assume that these industries will thrive regardless of planning decisions. Other cities are investing heavily to attract the same businesses, and global production is increasingly mobile.

This leads to a broader question about the kind of economy London wants to build over the coming decades. Which sectors should the capital actively make room for? How should employment, housing and infrastructure be balanced? And how can growth be planned in ways that strengthen both local communities and London’s international competitiveness?

These are not choices that can be resolved by a single planning application or development proposal. They require a long-term understanding of how different parts of the city work together and how today’s decisions will influence the opportunities available to future generations.

Perhaps that is the real significance of London’s expanding studio network – a reminder that planning is not simply about managing change. It is about deciding what kind of city we want London to become.

What London Makes Next

From the docks to finance, from manufacturing to the creative industries, London has repeatedly reinvented its economy while remaining a place where ideas become reality. Today’s studios are simply the latest expression of that tradition.

Whether London’s screen industry continues to flourish will depend not only on creative talent, but on the planning decisions that determine where future industries can grow.

From Ford to film, London’s story has never been about what it makes. It has always been about its ability to make something new.

London’s Expanding Studio Network