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Local News
February - March 2021
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In December, work began on Liverpool’s frst purpose-built flm and high-end TV stages. Contractors for Liverpool City Council broke ground on land adjacent to the famous Littlewoods Building, off Edge Lane, to create two 20,000 sq ft sound studios. The studios, which received planning permission early December, are seen as critical to Liverpool’s strategy to cement its reputation as one of Europe’s premier flm and TV production hubs. The city council has appointed contractor Morgan Sindall Construction to build the facilities, which are ideally located being just a 10-minute drive from the city centre and the M62. It is expected that the sound stages, which have received funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, will be operational by Spring 2021.
Liverpool continues to make a scene in the flm and TV industry
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic bringing the flm and TV sector to a standstill, Liverpool still proved a screen hit in 2020. In a report looking back at a unique year for Liverpool Film Ofce, latest fgures show that despite effectively being shut down for six months, the city region has still hosted 212 productions, supported 490 jobs and boosted the local economy by nearly £13.5 million. Productions that did head to the city region - when it was safe to do so - were high calibre and high value. These included The Batman (Warner Bros), The Irregulars (Netfix), Time (BBC), So Awkward (CBBC), Munich 38 (Netfix), Moving On Series 12 (BBC). And the productions are also being hailed as providing an essential lifeline to Liverpool’s hospitality industry with more than £2.1 million invested in the sector as a result of productions booking around 25,000 room nights.
New visitor attraction for Liverpool gem
Liverpool’s St George’s Hall has taken a step closer to opening a brand new visitor attraction in 2021 thanks to a £250,000 boost. The funding, part of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund, will be invested in a high-tech digital visitor experience, which will enable people to step back in time and see what life would have been like in the cells and courts of the 19th and 20th centuries. The ambition is for the educational and informative project to combine 3D, augmented reality, artifcial intelligence and virtual reality, in a frst for the Grade I-listed building. St George’s Hall was one of 77 organisations to receive a grant which was allocated by the National Heritage Fund and Historic England on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
