James Bond and Batman help rescue London developers

[The Sweeney]

Hollywood is helping London developers weather the financial crisis by turning empty offices into film sets, providing cash and publicity for landlords struggling to fill buildings with tenants because of the uncertain economic outlook.

http://www.filmnav.co.uk/blog/2012/02/2 ... evelopers/

[Goldeneye]

Hollywood is helping London developers weather the financial crisis by turning empty offices into film sets, providing cash and publicity for landlords struggling to fill buildings with tenants because of the uncertain economic outlook.

http://www.filmnav.co.uk/blog/2012/02/2 ... evelopers/

I think it is a nice idea although not everyone seems happy with it.

Hollywood is helping London developers weather the financial crisis by turning empty offices into film sets, providing cash and publicity for landlords struggling to fill buildings with tenants because of the uncertain economic outlook.

“There has been a sea change in the way landlords deal with empty space since the financial crisis,” said Mark Hughes-Webb, managing director of SPACE-2 Consulting, which finds buildings for shoots and events. “They are more focused on cashflow as shareholders want to know they are working their assets.”





Developers have struggled to fill a series of striking new buildings meant to attract a wave of tenants: five skyscrapers in central London at varying stages of build have signed one office deal between them.

Film shoots raise similar amounts to TV productions and it is not only buildings in the best locations that benefit. The new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises includes a stunt sequence shot at an office block in the south London suburb of Croydon, with the area’s dour 1960s architecture doubling up as Gotham City.

Not all landlords are opening their doors. Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper, the 1,016-feet Shard nearing completion next to London Bridge train station, turned down the producers of the new James Bond film Skyfall, which has been filming near the Tower of London, even though it has not yet signed an office tenant.

“It is disruptive. We do not need those kind of gimmicks,” a spokesman for developer Sellar Property Group said

[Blowfeld]

They can use my flat for a fee.