Film crew hire/Manchester/Studios and set builds
Film studios in Manchester. Stages, TV studios, coves and set builds.
Manchester has drama stages in West Gorton, TV studios at MediaCityUK, and cove studios you can book by the hour. Which one you need depends on the brief, and sometimes the answer is a good room on location instead.
Largest stage
29,892 sq ft
TV studios at MediaCityUK
10
Cove day · Ancoats
from £365
Content studio · MediaCityUK
£380 a day
On this page
01 Which kind of studio
Stage, TV studio or cove?
For builds
Sound stage
A big, quiet, empty box for builds: drama, commercials with sets, anything that needs walls you can move. Space Studios in West Gorton is the city’s main one.
For multi-camera
TV studio
Multi-camera with a gallery: panel shows, live streams, and studio interviews cut live from three cameras. MediaCity Studios and Versa are the big two.
For interviews and product
Cove or photo studio
An infinity cove or a daylight room for interviews, product, fashion and talking heads. Ancoats, Salford and Trafford Park have several, from about £40 an hour.
Worth asking first
For a one- or two-person interview, a studio isn’t always the answer. A good room on location, a library, a mill or a boardroom, often costs less than a cove day and tells the viewer something about the company. Our list of corporate locations is a good place to start.
02 Stages
Stages and TV studios
The four big facilities, from each studio’s own pages, checked on 12 October 2026.
| Studio | Where | What’s there | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space Studios Manchester | West Gorton · M12 5FQ | Six stages, 85,000+ sq ft; Space 06 is 29,892 sq ft with 40 ft to the rigging. Panavision, Panalux, ProVision, Media Dog and Direct Digital on site, plus a 12m curved LED volume from Recode XR. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Brassic and Happy Valley were made here. | Dry hire, quoted by date and stage. Owned by Manchester City Council. |
| MediaCity Studios (dock10 until June 2026) | MediaCityUK, Salford · M50 2NT | Ten TV studios, from HQ1 at 12,540 sq ft to HQ8, a small lit green-screen studio for day hire. Match of the Day, University Challenge and The 1% Club. | Through the studio bookings team. Its Content Studio is £380 a day dry hire, or £200 a half day. |
| Versa Studios Manchester | The former Granada site, city centre | Twelve spaces across 200,000+ sq ft, opened in February 2025, with motion capture and virtual production. BBC Morning Live and The Crystal Maze are resident. | Enquiries direct; no rates published. |
| The Sharp Project | Newton Heath · M40 5BJ | Stages and studios in a 200,000 sq ft former warehouse; Mount Pleasant and Fresh Meat were made here. Stage One is 3,700 sq ft with three-phase power. | Price on application. |
03 Coves
Coves and photo studios
For interviews, product and fashion. Each studio’s own published prices, before VAT, seen 12 October 2026.
| Studio | Where | The space | Published rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spectrum Studios | 23 Radium Street, Ancoats · M4 6AY | Two cove studios. Studio One has daylight; Studio Two is a 180° “infinity tube”. | Studio One £80 an hour, £325 a half day, £595 a day. Studio Two £45, £200, £365. |
| Foundry Film Studios | Ordsall Lane, Salford · M5 3LW | Two studios. Studio 1 has a 5m-high three-sided cove, drive-in access and an overhead rig. | From £960 a day (Studio 1) and £720 (Studio 2). |
| Big Shed | Trafford Park | Main studio 48 × 46 × 16 ft, with a 4m roller shutter that takes a tractor unit. Full blackout or chroma key. | From £950 a day; the Mezzanine from £500. |
| G6 Studios | Beside MediaCityUK · M50 2SN | An 11 × 9m cove with a motorised roof rig. | £100 an hour, four-hour minimum. |
| Studio MQ | Salford | 3,000 sq ft of white walls, a 6m roof, a 5m loading bay and a CNC workshop. | £120 an hour, four-hour minimum. |
| MediaCity Content Studio | White Tower, MediaCityUK | A white room 7.38 × 7.03m with blackout blinds, and a dry-hire studio. | Light room £25 an hour; studio £380 a day. |
| Budget Studio | Stretford · M32 8DN | A small cove and a three-tier colorama. | £40 an hour on weekdays, three-hour minimum. |
04 Set builds
Set builds in Manchester
A set build runs in four stages: design, construction, dressing and strike. The art director designs it, carpenters and scenic painters build it, the props and dressing team fill it, and the same people take it down and clear the stage.
In Manchester the pieces sit close together. Space Studios rents construction workshops beside its stages, and DESIGN 108 prints graphics and signage for art departments on site. Studio MQ has a CNC workshop for builds and props, with four weeks’ notice. Big Shed keeps its own list of builders. For large scenic work, Stage One built the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 set in Liverpool. Stockyard North in Trafford Park hires the furniture and dressing.
On the APA card, an art director is £675–878 a day. The rest of the art department’s rates are on our props page.
05 Costs
What a studio day includes, and what costs extra
The day
Usually ten hours: Spectrum’s full day is ten, and many studios run 9am to 6pm. G6 adds 25% outside those hours.
Minimums
Two hours at Spectrum; four at G6, Studio MQ and others.
Build, prep and strike days
Quoted separately. Get the rate before you book: a two-day build can cost more than the shoot day.
Cove paint
Most coves charge to repaint after a shoot that marks the floor. Ask before you bring in a set or a car.
Insurance
Studios want evidence of your public liability, and cover for anything you bring in.
Cancellation
Foundry refunds in full 60 days out, 50% at 30–60 days, and nothing inside 30.
Usually included
Parking, a green room, a kitchen and a make-up room. Big Shed’s car park takes trucks, generators and catering.
Need a studio?
Send the dates, the set-up and how many people. We’ll come back with the right space, the build and the crew, priced line by line. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Quick contact form
06 Questions
Film studios in Manchester: questions
How much does it cost to hire a film studio in Manchester?
Cove and photo studios run from about £40 an hour to £960 a day, depending on size. Spectrum in Ancoats is £595 a day for its daylight studio, Foundry in Salford from £960, and MediaCityUK’s Content Studio £380. The big stages at Space Studios and the TV studios quote by date and stage.
What’s the biggest film studio in Manchester?
Space Studios in West Gorton: six stages over 85,000 sq ft, with Space 06 alone at 29,892 sq ft and 40 ft to the rigging.
Is dock10 still called dock10?
No. Since June 2026 the studios at MediaCityUK trade as MediaCity Studios, and the post-production side as MediaCity Post.
Where can I find an infinity cove in Manchester?
Spectrum Studios in Ancoats, Foundry Film Studios in Salford, Big Shed in Trafford Park and G6 beside MediaCityUK all have coves. Foundry’s is 5m high, with drive-in access.
Can you build a set for a shoot in Manchester?
Yes. We bring in the art director and construction team, book the workshop and the stage, and strike it afterwards. For Swanson Studios we built a sound-proofed studio inside a hospital, in three cities in three days.
Studio or location for an interview?
For one or two people, often location: a good room costs less than a cove day and gives the film a sense of place. A cove wins for product, fashion and anything you’ll cut out later.
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