Hollywood of the North: A look inside Littlewoods Film Studios project

A look inside Littlewoods Film Studios project as Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram aims to make the 'Hollywood of the North’ a reality

Transcript

00:00The region's Metro Mayor has been on site at Liverpool's historic Littlewoods

00:04building, which is set to be transformed into a major film and television complex.

00:08I love to see old buildings with new life breathed into them. This is going to

00:13be one of them that doesn't just have a bit of new life, it's going to be

00:17animated by thousands of people in a brilliant industry. The long derelict

00:22plot is to be repurposed into a 20,000 square foot film and TV studio, which

00:27has hoped would make the city the Hollywood of the north. It is something

00:31that genuinely in the next few years could animate not just this part of

00:38Liverpool but the whole of the city region and transform some of the

00:43reputation of our area into what we want it to be and Hollywood in the north

00:48might seem a bit trite to some people but why not and why not here? Earlier

00:52this summer work began on dismantling the historic clock face at the site

00:56after remediation work got underway in the winter. We had laser sensors on that

01:00tower that told us that it was at risk of collapse and we couldn't allow that

01:04to do further damage to the rest of the structures on site and so it had to be

01:08carefully dismantled a couple of months ago. Developers Capital and Centric say

01:13they've made good progress on the site's next chapter. The building's walls have

01:17been stabilised and two wings sensitively cleared ready to be restored

01:21and repurposed. A central hangar which will become a food hall, screening and

01:25performance zone alongside a green courtyard has also been fully cleared

01:28ready for construction to get going. There's such a great love and an

01:32affinity for the building it's got to be open to the public so out of hours yet

01:36you'll be able to come in as a member of the public walk down this beautiful what

01:40will be a beautiful courtyard when we're finished and into the hangar which will

01:44be a you know an event space. The efforts to bring the site to completion have

01:48involved Liverpool City Council as freeholders and the Liverpool City Region

01:52combined authority led by Steve Rotherham which has pledged up to 17

01:56million pounds to see the vision become a reality.