Australian and New Zealand property development group Winton Land is driving the US$118m (NZ$200m) development for a new screen studio and development hub in New Zealand, branded the Ayrburn Film Hub.
The New Zealand government says it will accelerate the required resource consent assessment of the project.
The studio development and its strategic vision is being driven by Australian property mogul Chris Meehan, who has expanded his Winton property development group into New Zealand and is listed on both stock exchanges.
The proposed Ayrburn Screen Hub in Queenstown is a commercial and residential, all-inclusive film studio precinct that will enable productions to film and stay onsite through the filming, production and post-production process.
The plans include studio buildings, workrooms, office space for film departments, dressing rooms, a screening room and meeting space, with accompanying 185 room accommodation for film workers. The precinct also plans to offer visitor accommodation when there aren’t projects in production.
Meehan said that the project will increase New Zealand’s ability to attract high quality film and television projects from around the world.
“It also means that local film makers will have the best quality facilities available to them at one of the world’s most unique and sought after locations. This will be great for Queenstown jobs and it’s great for New Zealand’s economic growth,” Meehan says.
The new screen facility is slated to be located adjacent to the Ayrburn Hospitality Precinct and Northbrook Arrowtown, both Winton Land development projects.
The Winton group has been developing the Ayrburn and Arrowtown residential and hospitality projects for a decade after buying the former farmland in 2015.
Meehan was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia and spent his formative business years building the giant Belle Property Group, which he sold in 2009 to private equity buyers. He has been ambitiously expanding from housing developments to city regenerations and regional area activations to building new towns and precincts. Aside from his business acumen, he is also known as the former boss of Queen Mary of Denmark, who worked for Belle property when she met the then Crown Prince Frederik during the Sydney Olympic Games.
The group states that in its construction phase, the hub is estimated to inject an estimated NZ$280m into the local economy and support 640 full-time jobs across the wider Otago region.
“Diversifying Queenstown’s economy is key to its sustainable growth. An anchor project like the Ayrburn Film Hub will underpin approximately 370 jobs locally every year, with flow-on benefits into the wider community and labour market,” Meehan said.
