Amazon’s Bray Film Studios revamp set for council approval

Amazon MGM Studios looks set to get the green light for a major redevelopment of Bray Film Studios, after planning officers at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead recommended the scheme for approval ahead of a meeting on 22 October.

The Water Oakley site has a long history in British cinema, having once been home to Hammer Films and used for the making of classics including The Mummy and The Curse of Frankenstein. It also hosted productions such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Alien, before the volume of filming there declined through the 1990s and 2000s to the point where the site was nearly redeveloped for housing.

Amazon has operated the studios since 2022 and says the proposed works — which include a new multi-storey car park and six additional sound stages — would help “realise the site’s full potential.” The plans would also see the Grade II listed Down Place House refurbished for use as a production office, alongside a shuttle bus service linking the complex to Maidenhead, Windsor & Eton Riverside, and Windsor & Eton Central railway stations for crew and staff.

The studios’ revival began in 2022, when the Burke family, its owners at the time, won approval from the Royal Borough to redevelop the site. Amazon acquired it two years later, and has since used it to film major productions including the Lord of the Rings prequel series The Rings of Power and the second season of Citadel.

Under the new proposals, Amazon wants the capacity to shoot two productions simultaneously at Bray, describing its ambition as creating a “world-class studio blending function and desirability.” If approved next week, the expansion would mark the latest step in transforming a once-declining backlot into one of the UK’s busier production hubs, continuing a turnaround that began when the site’s future as a housing development looked all but settled.

Source: BBC News