High House Production Park Emma Wilcox@ Creative Estuary
 

High House Production Park

High House Production Park (HHPP) in Thurrock is an early blueprint for cultural asset development across the Estuary.

The regeneration of this 14-acre site, providing spaces for large scale creative production, was delivered thanks to the collaboration of multiple public and private sector partners. These include the Royal Opera House, Thurrock Council, Creative & Cultural Skills, Acme Studios, Arts Council England, East of England Development Agency the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The site and its heritage buildings were brought back into use in 2010 after years of neglect, with the opening of the Royal Opera House (ROH) Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop. The park is now home to the ROH Costume Centre, Acme Studios, providing studio space to multiple independent artists and creative businesses, and The Backstage Centre, a world-class production venue now managed by South Essex College offering specialist technical production courses and training.

Some of the original Grade II listed farm buildings have been restored for community and business use, but three ‘gap sites’ and one historic building remain undeveloped. Creative Estuary is now working to complete the park’s cultural regeneration by undertaking feasibility studies to determine future options for cultural use.

The production park is a flagship development in Purfleet-on-Thames’ wider regeneration scheme. With a major new film and television studio complex creating 1,000 jobs due to be built up the road from HHPP, it will ultimately form part of a 1million square foot media village of film & television studios and post-production facilities.

High House Production Park© Creative Estuary

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