Overview

A former 1930s radio and television factory in Islington has been restored with a fitting new chapter: London Screen Academy. Commissioned by the Department for Education, LocatED secured the historic site, and facilitated both its preservation and repurposing into a new free school for the future of British film.

Challenge

Having been disused and abandoned for decades, Ladbroke House, the former Cossor radio and television factory, seemed to have no foothold in the future. The property’s historic value and potential was overlooked by developers, until the Education and Skills Funding Agency acquired the site in December 2015, with a bold new purpose on the horizon. The founders of Working Title Films, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, wanted to partner with the Department for Education to set up a new academy, dedicated to the art of visual storytelling. What better location for this one-of-a-kind cultural institution than a building once renowned for creating televisions themselves? But bringing its bones back to life to meet the demands of today’s technology required expertise of a different field, enter LocatED.

Solution

Structurally, the building was in sound condition, with only the expected wear and tear to its exterior. So, LocatED set the tone of the development by making the decision to honour the iconic local landmark as much as possible, working with the building, rather than against it. This approach would not only minimise the impact on the local area, but also maximise the effect of the building’s reimagining. The project presented itself in two challenges: reviving Ladbroke House’s outer structures, and creating brand new internal ones. The team shaped how the project would preserve, adapt and enhance the heritage of Ladbroke House’s facade, and led the ambitious internal reconfiguration, which would go on to make a fiercely modern new home for the industry-standard facilities and technology of London Screen Academy. Whilst LocatED has been responsible for many notable conversions of non-educational buildings to educational use, in its now finished state, London Screen Academy is one of the most breathtaking.

At a time where sustainability is a key component of our daily lives, it is wonderful to reap the benefits of repurposing a heritage asset, through combined refurbishment and new-build, to create a truly inspiring teaching environment for pupils and staff alike.

— David Clark – Department for Education

Impact

Opened in 2019, London Screen Academy has the capacity to enrol 1,000 16 to 18-year-olds from a diverse range of backgrounds into the film industry. An ambitious institution from the outset, LocatED has created spaces to grow with this vision, designed with a long-life, loose-fit ethos. The central space, carved out from the industrial factory framework, now houses a three-storey professional film production studio, surrounded by truly versatile teaching and workshop spaces, while a new rooftop courtyard takes the inside out, creating facilities to host film screenings, events and open Ladbroke House’s views over London up after so long unseen.

Visited in the autumn of 2025, the LocatED team was delighted to hear the LSA representatives’ 100% positive feedback about the building and the great working and studying environment that it provides. They report if prospective students visit the building, they sign up for a course, which says a lot for the vision in purchasing the building in the first place and delivering a first-class facility that is making a very positive contribution to education delivery in London.

The project remains a remarkable example of how we can harness the heritage of yesterday to shape the needs of today and tomorrow.