Pinewood Studios bid to take on Hollywood

A new live-in film set representing streets including New York, Paris and Venice is one step closer as Pinewood Shepperton prepares to submit its planning application.

Pinewood Shepperton said that following extensive public consultation, it will be putting forward the planning application to South Bucks District Council for Project Pinewood.

The project is described as "a long term scheme of national significance to create a living and working community for the creative industries".

Pinewood, which announced the scheme in November 2007, hopes to build on a 100-acre green belt site adjacent to the existing studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.

The development, estimated to cost around £200 million, features backdrops, including a Venetian canal, a Roman amphitheatre, a Tudor marketplace for period dramas and street scenes from downtown New York, French Quarter New Orleans, European townhouses, as well as a Chicago suburb, some of which could be visible from the M25.

The company is planning to incorporate up to 1,500 homes - a mix of apartments, town and detached houses - in the development.

Other amenities considered as part of the project include a primary school, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, and cinema, theatre and music productions

The studio said: "Project Pinewood is the most innovative and forward looking strategic initiative in the UK screen and related industries, designed to achieve economic efficiencies in filming and reduction in carbon emissions."

Pinewood became famous in the 1950s and 1960s for the Bond and Carry On films, both British franchises, and the location for 1968 film the Battle of Britain.

Recent films to have come from the studio include Bond's latest adventure Quantum of Solace, Brideshead Revisited and the Dark Knight.