Market Update – August 2021
By Nick Staton – Co-founder/Owner Statons Estate Agents
Hertfordshire – The New Hollywood?
With Sky’s ambitious new film & TV studios development in Elstree well on track and due to open in 2022, there is real excitement at the prospect of Hertfordshire becoming the UK’s answer to Hollywood.
The new Sky Studios Elstree marks a significant investment in UK talent and its proven creative film and TV industry. Sky, NBC Universal and parent company Comcast, working in partnership with Legal & General is developing the 32 acre site, just off the Borehamwood exit of the A1, aims to become a leading European studio with 14 stages with the latest cutting edge technology.
Sky Studios Elstree opens in 2022
The new studios are due to open in 2022 and with 14 stages each covering 20,000sqft will be able to produce both TV shows and films at the same time. When the studios open, the facility will include production offices, a set construction workshop, a screening cinema and a state of the art post-production unit.
The new studio development is a huge boost to both the UK’s creative film economy as well as the local Hertfordshire area, with Sky announcing the creation of over 2000 new jobs and an expected £3bn production investment in the UK creative sector within the first five years.
Sky currently develops and produces some of the UK’s best original drama, comedy and documentary, winning critical acclaim for ‘Sky Originals’ such as the Emmy Award-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Das Boot, Riviera and Britannia.
The Original Elstree Studios
Elstree is already home to the world renowned and hugely successful Elstree Studios. With its 90 year history, Elstree has been the studio of choice for legendary producers and directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Danny Boyle and Guy Ritchie. Having produced some of the most famous films of all time, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, Superman, Moby Dick, The Dam Busters, The Shining, Ice Cold in Alex, and Labyrinth.
Today, the famous Elstree Studios continue to produce great TV shows and films to include The Crown, Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice, The Voice Kids, Celebrity Juice, A League of Their Own, The Chase, Pointless, Room 101, Have I Got News For You and many more.
Hollywood’s Sunset Studios to build new studios in Hertfordshire
Hollywood’s Sunset studios are another major studio to move to the area. The producers of La La land, Zoolander and the first X-Men franchise, Sunset studios are the latest US production company to announce a move to the area.
With a £700m investment from two major US investment firms, Sunset Studios plan to develop 91 acre greenfield site in Broxbourne, creating 4,500 new jobs. Sunset are expected to become the largest film and TV studio campus in the UK, with between 15 and 25 sound stages contributing £300m a year to the local economy, if planning approval is given. The group currently owns three studios in Hollywood and recently announced plans for a fourth, Sunset Glenoaks.
Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden, Hertfordshire
Most famously the home to all eight of the Harry Potter films, Wonder Woman a Sherlock Holmes, the UK base of the world-famous Hollywood film studio Warner Bros, has been making films in Hertfordshire for many years and continue to invest heavily in the UK film industry.
Statons, Agents to the stars
For over 30 years Statons have built a reputation for quietly and confidentially finding and selling homes for celebrities of film, TV and sport. With the original Elstree film studio’s, Sky, Warner Bros and the BBC, as well as the premiership football teams, Arsenal and Tottenham, all within our area. We have built relationships with celebrities, agents, TV and film companies, and the football teams, by offering a discreet, tactful, no fuss service that our VIP clients have grown to trust and rely on.
Only this month we found a home for a Hollywood A-Lister, currently filming the latest movie in a hugely successful film franchise for Warner Bros. We found the film star the perfect secluded Hollywood style home in North London.
Living in Hertfordshire
It’s not only the Hollywood set that are drawn to leafy Hertfordshire, the post lockdown search for space has seen many buyers from more urban and central London locations looking to Hertfordshire for a better quality of life. With some of the best schools, social and cultural activities, Hertfordshire’s beautiful countryside, delightful villages and towns with easy commuting to London is an idyllic location for those weary of city living.
Here are some examples of our own Hollywood style homes –
The Ridgeway, Cuffley, Hertfordshire – £8,495,000
One of the finest modern country houses in Hertfordshire and certainly one of the most impressive homes in Cuffley, this substantial family home is approached through electric entrance gates; the 800ft driveway allows for tantalising glimpses of the rear elevation of the house as one approaches. The house is offered on a three acre plot with entrance from one road, the sweeping driveway takes you round the property with a separate exit via another road… Read more >
Leggatts Park, Barnet, Hertfordshire – £6,750,000
The Beeches at Leggatts Park is one of the most exclusive residential addresses in Hertfordshire. The original Leggatts Park was built in the early 19th Century and is now replaced with five spectacular country homes each set within substantial grounds, retaining much of the established landscape and offering a unique level of seclusion and privacy. Leggatts Park is set within 50 acres of idyllic private countryside… Read more >
Dancers Lane, Bentley Heath, Hertfordshire – £6,975,000
A grand restored and refurbished Grade II listed Country House set in a secluded and private setting of approx. 6 acres with a 1½ acre lake approached via a sweeping gravel drive with roundabout within easy reach of central London.
Recently restored and refurbished this Grade II country house, being of architectural importance. Dancers Hill House is described as a Palladian Villa, which has been significantly extended. The front elevation has the classical proportions of the period, constructed in brick, finished in render under a slate roof. A Modillion eaves cornice lies below the parapet. Read more >
Essendon Manor, Essendon, Hertfordshire – £5,000,000
Essendon Manor is a unique and immaculately presented spacious country house. The house is set behind a high boundary wall, offering considerable privacy, with an electrically operated gated entrance, situated at the edge of the much sought-after Essendon village.
Essendon Manor has unbridled views of the Hertfordshire countryside with substantial gardens and grounds that provide a breath-taking parkland setting of approximately 9 acres. There are many fine and mature specimen trees, a large area of rhododendrons, a small lake and a golf green and is Grade II listed… Read more >
If you require any further advice please contact us