{"id":536517,"date":"2026-01-21T12:45:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=536517"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:02:19","slug":"contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractor named for landmark \u00a3450m film studio but investor still sought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Bowmer &amp; Kirkland has been confirmed as main contractor to build one of the largest film studios in Europe, but questions remain over the \u00a3450m government-backed project as a new investor is yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Plans for the 1.5 million square foot Crown Works Studios in Sunderland has faced delays after one of its main backers, London-based investment firm Cain International, pulled out last summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A spokesperson for Sunderland City Council, which is partly funding the scheme, said construction is now due to start in the \u201cfirst half\u201d of 2026 and an update on a new investor is expected in \u201cthe next month or so\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/construction-league-tables\/barracks-job-boosts-bovis-to-second-league-summit-in-three-months-06-01-2026\/\">Bowmer &amp; Kirkland<\/a> was initially engaged to carry out enabling works on the site, which started last March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">However, the Derbyshire-based firm has now been procured as main contractor for the job to \u201censure there would be continuity\u201d once enabling works had finished, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Work on the brownfield site on the banks of the River Wear was originally expected to start in 2024 and be completed by 2028.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Instead, the spokesperson said the council was now \u201chopeful to have the first building complete by the end of 2027\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The scheme, which covers an 82-acre plot, will include 20 sound stages with the first six as part of phase one of the scheme. Planning approval was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/sections\/news\/green-light-for-sunderland-film-complex-2-26-03-2024\/\">first granted in March 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>TV and film production company Fulwell Entertainment, whose partners include actor James Corden, is the scheme\u2019s other main backer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When asked by <i>Construction News<\/i> if the scheme will go ahead if a new investor is not found, the council spokesperson said: \u201cWe expect the scheme will go ahead, enabled by the public sector, a model we have used to successfully stimulate investment from the private sector in other strategic sites.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the government would put \u00a325m towards the scheme. At the same time, Sunderland City Council and the North East Mayoral Combined Authority provided \u00a3120m of funding.<\/p>\n<p>Sunderland City Council is using real estate firm CBRE to help find more investors for the project, which has been described as \u201cgame-changing for the whole of the North East\u201d by the authority\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The scheme is part of the wider Sunderland Riverside \u00a32bn masterplan, which includes plans for 1,000 new homes, 1 million square feet of commercial space, plus parks and public areas on the banks of the River Wear in the city centre.<\/p>\n<p>Bowmer &amp; Kirkland was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bowmer &amp; Kirkland has been confirmed as main contractor to build one of the largest film studios in Europe, but questions remain over the \u00a3450m government-backed project as a new investor is yet to be confirmed. Plans for the 1.5 million square foot Crown Works Studios in Sunderland has faced delays after one of its &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29901,"featured_media":536544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contracts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Contractor named for landmark \u00a3450m film studio but investor still sought | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bowmer &amp; Kirkland has been confirmed as main contractor to build one of the largest film studios in Europe, but questions remain over the \u00a3450m\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Contractor named for landmark \u00a3450m film studio but investor still sought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bowmer &amp; Kirkland has been confirmed as main contractor to build one of the largest film studios in Europe, but questions remain over the \u00a3450m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T12:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T14:02:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/sunderland-studios.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Wilmore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\"},\"headline\":\"Contractor named for landmark \u00a3450m film studio but investor still sought\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T12:45:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-21T14:02:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/sunderland-studios.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Contracts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/\",\"name\":\"Contractor named for landmark \u00a3450m film studio but investor still sought | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contracts\/contractor-named-for-landmark-450m-film-studio-but-investor-still-sought-21-01-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/sunderland-studios.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T12:45:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-21T14:02:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\"},\"description\":\"Bowmer &amp; 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