Shackleton army base, Ballykelly: Film studio firm would like to buy site

A film studio company that has recently started renting the former Shackleton army base in Ballykelly has said it would like to buy the full site.

The base was given to the Northern Ireland Executive by the Ministry of Defence in 2011.

There has been at least one previous attempt to sell the site.

Demolition has taken place in a corner of the site that the Department of Agriculture plans to move into.

However, most of the 720 acre site is open spaces, empty offices, and aircraft hangars, and there are two airstrips.

Jo Gilbert brought the first films to studios in east Belfast which incorporate Harland and Wolff shipyard's former Paint Hall building.

Her company has now leased the Shackleton base and is turning it into production office and studio space to rent out to production teams for film and television shoots.

"We are here for the long term," she said.

"This site is absolutely tailor made to develop a whole new centre of excellence for the media and creative industries."

The army left the site in 2008, and much has become overgrown, but Ms Gilbert is using old army accommodation to house cast and crew.

One production is currently on site and will begin filming next week.

The film called Property of the State, is the first in a line of productions already on the books.

Generous tax breaks, access to locations both north and south of the border, and space to film pretty much anything you want are what Ms Gilbert thinks are the key attractions to Ballykelly.

"There's lots of interests from the States, this is a place with so much potential, we will have five productions running concurrently on this site," she added.

A British production of Jeffery Archer's prison diaries is one of a number of films that will arrive on site in the next few weeks.

A spokesperson for the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister said Shackleton Studios was one of more than 40 parties that had registered an interest in purchasing the site.

They said the site had been on the market in 2011, but the first and deputy first minister decided at that stage not to sell it "as they wanted to ensure that the sale would deliver maximum benefits for the North West".