New Filmhouse – Transforming Lives Through Film – Planning Application For A New Landmark Home For Film Submitted For Planning Permission

Following an extensive and successful public consultation process which ran for 4 months following its launch in March 2020, Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) has submitted the full Planning Application for the proposed New Filmhouse in Festival Square to City of Edinburgh Council’s planning department.

The New Filmhouse will be a world-class centre for film designed by Richard Murphy Architects and will create a landmark home for Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival. It will be a local, national and international hub for community engagement and learning, talent and skills development, film programming and audience engagement, innovation and enterprise, and networking which will benefit both the city’s residents and Scotland’s film industry. 

The design of the New Filmhouse has evolved following the extensive consultation process, resulting in a reduction in the height, improved access arrangements within the building and more detailed proposals for the successful management of Festival Square as a public space.

The new building will be the catalyst that animates the underutilised public space in Festival Square and creates a vibrant and dynamic cultural hub, internationally significant in reputation and reach, whilst being primarily for the people of Edinburgh.  

The New Filmhouse will retain the independence of spirit, identity and programming of the existing Filmhouse but deliver it in state-of-the-art cinemas, learning suites, an inspiring event and meeting space in the heart of the building, vital project, meeting and work space, an expanded café bar, a separate restaurant, and a programmable rooftop terrace and public viewpoint.

Ken Hay, CEO of Centre for the Moving Image (inc Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival) said “We want the New Filmhouse to be the catalyst that transforms Festival Square so that it becomes a used and exciting public space. This new building itself will generate a lot of life in the Square, and we will design the Square to be welcoming and work collaboratively with our neighbours, the City Council and key cultural partners in managing the use of the Square for the benefit of the people of Edinburgh. 

“As a cultural charity with a strong commitment to the social impact of its work we believe Filmhouse will be a great caretaker of what could become a much more inviting and valued public space. And our commitment to environmental sustainability means that the building will operate on a net zero carbon basis from its first day of opening.” 

Sandy Begbie CBE, Chair of Centre for the Moving Image (inc Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival) added “We believe in the power of film to transform lives – whether watching, making or learning about film. We want the New Filmhouse to be a vibrant and exciting community of film for the people of Edinburgh and Scotland, a place for anyone who loves film to come together in the one space.  We want our new home to be inspiring and fully accessible for everyone – physically and emotionally – so whoever you are and wherever you’re from you’ll be welcome and able to access and participate in all that we do.

“Edinburgh is home to internationally recognised landmark museums, galleries, concert halls and theatres – each celebrations of their respective artforms. The New Filmhouse will be a fitting addition to these – a celebration of film, the most popular artform of the 20th and 21st centuries.” 

As well as programming the best films from around the world, the Filmhouse charity delivers an ambitious level of events, learning and professional development opportunities and is a hub for film education and screen industries. The new building will provide the ideal setting for Filmhouse’s many diverse activities and significantly broaden its impact and reach. 

It is projected that the New Filmhouse will attract over 800,000 individual visits each year, and work with more than 200 partners and organisations.

It will be a building for the future, operating on a net zero carbon basis from its opening day and actively encouraging staff and audiences to utilise low carbon travel options. 

The proposed New Filmhouse is the conclusion of 30 years of discussion and debate. It is a genuine once in a generation opportunity to create an inspirational and accessible temple for film culture in the heart of Edinburgh for the people of Edinburgh; and to create a new home for two of Edinburgh’s most cherished institutions, which will enable them to fully deliver their vision and potential, and underpin their viability for the long term.

The existingFilmhouseinhabits a190-year-oldlistedchurch building andcannot be redeveloped to deliver a viablefit for purposebuilding.

The full Planning Application has just been submitted and is expected to go live very soon. A decision is expected by early summer 2021. If successful, it is hoped that construction may begin in 2023 for completion in 2025.  

Comments can be made to the Council through its planning portal between the application going live and late January. 

The Cultural Context
Edinburgh is home to Scotland’s leading and internationally recognised independent cinema, Filmhouse, the equally renowned Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), set within the world’s leading festival city, and the world’s longest continually running film society, the Edinburgh Film Guild. It is also home to Scotland’s national film school, Screen Academy Scotland, the Scottish Documentary Institute, a number of leading film-centred or -related research and teaching programmes in the city’s universities, numerous small creative businesses and Scotland’s newest film studio complex, First Stage Studios. The city is home to landmark international museums, galleries, concert halls, theatres and cultural venues.

The Spaces
The New Filmhouse will provide the following key spaces for audiences, customers and partners:

• The Filmhouse Cinemas 1 - 5: a fully accessible five screen cinema complex, retaining the independence of spirit, programming and identity of the current Filmhouse, offering the broadest range of films to the broadest range of audiences.

An increase in cinema screens, from three to five, with more comfortable seating and layout, and overall seating capacity increasing from 455 in the current building to 828 in the New Filmhouse.

• The Studio: a flexible screening, production and exhibition space.

A sixth cinema screen, with retractable seating, that can be used for screenings, exhibitions, performances and events. (Seating capacity 80)

• The Centre: an inspiring and iconic flexible event and meeting space at the heart of the building, designed for festivals, conferences, workshops, seminars, and networking and special events.

With a seating capacity of 180 that is retractable so the room can also be set up for different types of activities, this stunning space with have wonderful views to the Castle and be visible from outside the building, whilst also having the capacity to be easily turned into a screening space as required.

• The Innovation Labs: two flexible project spaces designed for education, learning, and audience development programmes.

Providing much needed additional spaces for our Filmhouse’s broad programme of activities, these rooms on -2 Cinema level, together with a dedicated break out space, will also be able to support relaxed screenings. 

• The Rooftop Terrace: an upper-level publicly accessible space with inspiring views across the city, which will also hold events and receptions.

The rooftop terrace will have a 150 seating capacity and 300 standing.

• The Workspace: fully accessible work and meeting spaces for individuals and cultural organisations.

In addition to staff of Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival, this space will be available to individuals, organisations and partners, creating a collaborative, productive and connected working environment.

• The Filmhouse Café Bar: increasing the capacity of the existing Filmhouse café bar across two floors, with additional alfresco seating on Festival Square.

Seating indoors will increase by around 60%, and be doubled when the Square is also in use, with overall seating increasing from 146 in the current Filmhouse to 298 in the New Filmhouse.

• The Restaurant: an upper-level restaurant for formal dining, with inspiring views across the city.

This new addition will add an extra 152 covers (124 indoors plus 28 on the open- air terrace)

The Activities
The New Filmhouse will support a range of activity, clustered into a series of different hubs including:  

• A Community Engagement and Learning Hub: focused on providing opportunities for individuals and communities to engage with and be inspired by film – watching, making, and learning about film; 
• A Talent and Skills Development Hub: focused on providing opportunities for individuals to develop their careers within the screen industries – as curators, makers and teachers; 
• A Film Programming and Audience Engagement Hub: focused on delivering the broadest range of film programming, the hub will be a test bed for new approaches to programming and audience engagement, providing dedicated screening for specific audience groups, cross-artform programmes of activity, and a base for curated touring programmes and programmes of specialised film;
• An Innovation and Enterprise Hub: focused on providing opportunities and support for Scotland’s screen industries, including housing managed workspaces for screen industries businesses;
• A Networking Hub: focused on providing opportunities for people (audiences, curators, producers, teachers, academics, press, policy makers) to meet, share, learn, innovate and be inspired through festivals, conferences, special seasons, engagement and learning programmes, and talent development programmes.

The Numbers

• A doubling of the number of individual visits each year – from 369,960 to 806,251.
• A significant increase in capacity for working with partner organisations and the education sector, with a 90% increase in programme partners and collaborating organisations, and a 60% increase in education & learning activities.
• Significant increase in capacity for working with schools, increasing the number of children benefitting from 4,000 to an estimated 30,000 per year, ensuring all school children in Edinburgh have opportunities to engage with the education programme every two years.
• The Hub principle underpinning the Proposed Development’s planned activities will benefit individuals, communities, emerging talent and the screen sector, through the sharing of ideas, experience and learning.
• The purpose-built facilities will support an increased viability and sustainability of the charity in the long term, with a net additional £250,000 pa being generated helping to fund the delivery of an expanded programme of activities and an increase in affordable ticketing.
• Over the first 25 years of the Proposed Development (2025/26 to 2049/50): The NPV of benefits to Edinburgh are £300.4m. Relative to a capital cost of £60m, this equates to a benefits-cost ratio of 5.0.
• By 2034/35, the Proposed Development will sustain 290 full-time equivalent jobs and £21.8m of revenue that otherwise would not exist in Edinburgh.
• In addition to new jobs created at Filmhouse, the programme of activities will support skills, talent development and innovation in the wider screen sector, significantly contributing to the strengthened focus on the screen industries in Edinburgh more generally.
• During the construction phase, an estimated £4.8m will be spent on labour, based on average full-time salaries in Edinburgh, this equates to 150 people employed full-time for one year.
• There will be a doubling of spend with local suppliers, with the majority of expenditure anticipated to be retained in Edinburgh, and community benefit clauses also built into construction contracts.
• There will be a five-fold increase in customer toilets (from 19 to 95), including gender neutral toilets and facilities for people with disabilities on every floor.
• A net zero carbon operation from day one.
• Fully accessible building for all customers and all staff.