Working Title Chiefs, Hans Zimmer Acquire London’s Historic Maida Vale Studios Where David Bowie, The Beatles Recorded

Alex Ritman
·3 min read
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Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, co-chairmen of British production powerhouse Working Title, plus Hans Zimmer and his long-time business partner Steven Kofsky have formed a partnership to purchase London’s legendary Maida Vale studios, considered a seminal part of U.K. music history.

First bought by the BBC in 1933, the studios have welcomed the likes of David Bowie, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Dusty Springfield to record in the building over the decades, and it became a home for the BBC Performing Group. In 2018, the BBC announced the closure of the site with plans to vacate in 2025, part of its plan to move the music studios and perfuming groups to a purpose-built space in east London.

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Following the purchase, terms of which were not disclosed, the new owners say they plan to keep the original façade of the building, which will remain as a studio space but undergo a multi-million-pound refurbishment plan for its existing studios. There will also be the creation of a not-for-profit educational facility, and a long-term commitment to providing local jobs, innovation and investment.

“Maida Vale Studios has been synonymous with artistic excellence for generations,” said Bevan and Fellner. “The venue has become part of the fabric of the U.K.’s pioneering cultural industry, from helping to nurture new and ground-breaking artists, to housing some of the world’s most legendary musicians.”

They added: “Through our redevelopment plans we will future-proof the historic site, continuing its presence in the local community with a new education facility, whilst creating a world-class studio space for the next generation of composers, producers, editors and engineers.”

Zimmer noted that the first time he worked for the BBC was at the Maida Vale Studios some 45 years, saying he was an awestruck kid who was “honored” to play on one of his first sessions there.

“I still remember the strong pull, the desire to touch the walls, as if that would somehow allow me to connect to the artists whose extraordinary music had resonated against these walls on a daily basis. This was a place of revolutionary science in the service of art, this was a place that inspired you to give your best, where music was performed around the clock and art was taken seriously. For the people by the people. This was the place that kept a struggling musician like me from giving up.”

The multi-Oscar-winner said that around the time he first worked at Maida Vale, he began working with Bevan and Fellner at Working Title, something that gave him his career in Hollywood, where Kofsky became his partner.

“He and I made sure to drag the work from as many Hollywood films as possible back to Britain. So now I want to close the circle: make Maida Vale Studios a place that inspires, teaches, technologically serves the arts and humanity — and gives the next generation the same opportunities I was given: to create and to never give up.”

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