New film studio soundstages built on the site of the former Big Brother house in Hertfordshire have won a number of building project awards.

The Platinum Stages at Elstree Studios have been recognised for three regional awards for building excellence.

The state-of-the-art soundstages have been named Building Project of the Year, initially winning the Herts & Beds and then the East of England by Constructing Excellence.

Another win came in the Best Non-residential New Build Central Region by Local Authority Building Control (LABC). They now go on to the national finals of both competitions. 

The new facility sits next to the George Lucas Stages at Elstree - where Strictly Come Dancing is filmed - and is built on the site of the former Big Brother house.

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Studio owners Hertsmere Borough Council worked in partnership with RG Carter, BAQUS Construction and Property Consultancy, 4D architects and Ernest Griffiths, to deliver the much-needed twin soundstage, two-new workshops, and office facilities.

The stages have a combined workable footprint of 3,210 square metres, about half the size of a professional football pitch.

Clad in innovative timber cassettes, the new stages have been designed to meet international space standards in studio design and can be used as two separate stages or a combined super-sized one.

Councillor Jeremy Newmark, Hertsmere's portfolio holder for consultation, communications and asset management, said: “I’m delighted our state-of-the-art new soundstages have been recognised as providing industry leading facilities, which will keep our studios as a top destination for television and film production in the world.

This was the first major build at Elstree Studios in 25 years and we worked hard to create a first class production space. The new stages will provide hundreds of new jobs and apprenticeship opportunities to our local communities as well as providing state-of-the-art facilities for our occupiers. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

Stage three at Elstree is the first stage in the country to achieve an acoustic rating of 70 decibels, which safeguards occupiers from environmental disturbances.

The stages also boast an innovative dividing wall solution, providing a significant cost savings and no programme delay.

The stages are a £15.6m project part-funded by Hertsmere Borough Council and the government’s Getting Building Fund via Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).