Greystones Media Campus Is A Go

Field of dreams

atest press release from Greystones Media Campus Ltd, issued on Thursday, December 17th 2020…

Greystones Media Campus Limited has received planning permission from Wicklow County Council for a new state-of-the-art film & TV studio and media campus on an 18-hectare IDA Ireland site at Killincarrig in Greystones, Co. Wicklow.

The exciting new facility will provide an unrivalled boost to the growth of Ireland’s film and television industry and local economy, and also create up to 1,200 jobs in the region.

The proposed facility will seek to build upon, and contribute to, the existing Dublin-Wicklow film and screen cluster, the leading economic cluster of its type in the country. It will also consolidate Wicklow’s position as the traditional heart of television and film production in Ireland.

The successful planning application proposes 14 studios, offices and ancillary production buildings in a landscaped setting – more than doubling the available stage capacity available to film, TV and media crews in Ireland. The development has already drawn international attention from several media enterprises.

A number of conditions were attached to the decision to grant planning permission, relating to environmental, landscaping and traffic and pedestrian safety considerations during development. Greystones Media Campus has committed to meeting them in full and working alongside the local community to ensure the project is a success.

Under the Greystones-Delgany and Kilcoole Local Area Plan 2013-2019, the Killincarrig site had previously been prioritised for “the development of high-density people-based employment”. The proposed Greystones Media Campus will address this priority by contributing to the economic development of Co. Wicklow through the delivery of high-quality new job opportunities.

The audio-visual sector is currently worth over €1 billion to the Irish economy, with 12,000 people employed in film, television and animation production. However, as outlined in the Olsberg report (2017)**, Ireland currently suffers from a shortage of high-quality studio space for its television, film and media industry and the report highlights a requirement to make the sector more competitive internationally.

Addressing this report, the subsequent Government’s Audiovisual Action Plan (2018) aims to make Ireland “a global hub for the production of film, TV drama and animation” and double employment and turnover in the industry over the next five years.

The government’s Mid-East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2020 also noted that Wicklow and the east coast possess an established screen creation sector with a long tradition of content creation for the film and television industry, a large number of skilled crew and talent living in the area, and an attractive connected location.

The proposed development is being supported by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), Ireland’s sovereign development fund with a remit to invest on a commercial basis in Ireland in a way that supports economic activity and employment, Capwell, a SISK Family company, and Conor Harrington, an independent TV and film producer.

Speaking following the decision to grant planning permission, a spokesperson for GMC said: “We’re delighted with the decision from Wicklow County Council to approve planning permission for what will be an exciting development for the Greystones area and the Irish film and TV sector as a whole.

“The Greystones Media Campus has the potential to be an exciting new chapter in the story of the Irish film industry and will lead to a wealth of new opportunities in the sector and across the entire county.

“With increasing global demand for content from the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Disney, this development presents a wonderful opportunity for Ireland to continue to make its mark on the global stage.”

*Source – The Environmental Impact Assessment Report prepared for the planning application.
** Olsberg Report 2017 – ‘Economic Analysis of the Audiovisual Sector in the Republic of Ireland’. Compiled by Olsberg•SPI with Nordicity