Plans for a new £8m film production studio to open in a Grade II listed power station have been scrapped after the council agreed to sell off the asset. The company behind the scheme, Mo-Sys Engineering, said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the council’s decision to sell the site.
The special effects company had been working with the council for three years to develop the disused Plumstead Power Station into a new global hub for its virtual productions. A company spokesperson confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that Greenwich Council said it was pulling out of the project in August this year.
They added that a Freedom of Information request the following month apparently revealed that the agency’s funding it had reserved for the scheme was no longer available. Greenwich Council had in February 2022 agreed to provide over £4 million to the project, more than half of which would have come from financial contributions received through developers building in the borough. Mo-Sys is said to have matched council funding for the project, bringing the total project to over £8 million.
The space would have included an 8-stage studio facility, a training service and a hub for further innovations in the virtual production space. The company is currently based in Morden Wharf but the studio will be demolished ahead of a plan to deliver 1,500 new homes to the area.
The Grade II-listed Plumstead Power Station building opened in 1903 before being converted into a council depot in 1965. Greenwich Council has previously claimed it had always wanted to bring the structure back into use, but the authority’s cabinet agreed to put the property up for sale at a meeting on October 16.
Other assets agreed to be sold included several council-owned car parks and the former caretaker’s house. The decision to sell the sites comes after the council made £33.7m of savings this year in a bid to balance its budget, with a £27m black hole projected for next year.
Labor Councilor Mariam Lolavar told the meeting: “At the end of the day it’s not the position we want to be in, it’s the reality of the situation we’re in. We’re seeing councils failing and filing for bankruptcy across the UK and that’s not the position we want to be in.”
He said: “At Mo-Sys we are constantly innovating and working together with industry partners, and this situation has given us a great opportunity to expand our vision for the new Mo-Sys headquarters.”
He added: “We have been exploring new synergistic partnerships to build a project that is bigger than previously planned, that can be realized faster. Our new facility will be the virtual production hub for London and beyond, with all the resources for filmmaking, innovation and education, as we continue to grow from strength to strength, driving the virtual production industry forward. We look forward to announcing exciting new locations and collaborations in the coming months.”
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