Midlothian film studio take two: Plans submitted for Dalkeith site

The company which dropped plans for a film studio at Pentland Farm last year, has this morning submitted an application to Midlothian Council for a 48 acre film studio adjacent to Dalkeith Country Park.
The planned Saltersgate film studio. Photo: Keppie Architects.The planned Saltersgate film studio. Photo: Keppie Architects.
The planned Saltersgate film studio. Photo: Keppie Architects.

PSL Land, the team behind the Pentland Studios project, has now shifted its attention to a site at Saltersgate, where it plans to build a studio and a film academy. Midlothian councillors will hear an initial report on the plans at the council’s planning meeting on January 22.

PSL’s long-running plan for a £250 million studio on 100 acres of greenbelt land at Pentland Farm was halted when a land court ruled that the tenant farmer could not be removed from the land.

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After the case, Buccleuch Estates contacted PSL Land to offer up the new site four miles away, adjacent to Dalkeith Country Park. There is now a sale agreement in principle between the two parties.

Nick Waugh, commercial property director at the commercial arm of Buccleuch Estates, said: “We recognize the importance of this ambitious project, and are delighted to play a role in helping deliver a world-class film studio to Scotland that will inevitably transform the Scottish creative industry and our reputation as a filming location across the globe.”

The planned new studio would have nine sound stages across 208,000 square feet.

PSL is also talking to Edinburgh Napier University about establishing a Scottish Film Academy on the site.

A public consultation on the new plans, designed by Keppie Architects, will take place at Woodburn Primary School on January 31, 4-8pm.