Westmeath County Council voted on Monday (September 19)to approve the development of Hammerlake Studios in Mullingar, a decision which could potentially bring more than 1,000 jobs to the town by 2025.
Councillors were unanimously in favour of changing zoning at the 25-acre site at Lough Sheever Corporate Park so that phase one of construction could begin.
When completed, the campus will boast 460,000sq ft of studio space and would comfortably be Ireland’s largest film and television studio.
Planning for the international studio was granted initial approval by the Council’s planning department last July.
The application site was not zoned and was therefore subject to a material contravention of the Westmeath County Development plan for 2021-2027.
The aim of the studio is to attract major TV and film projects from around the world. The group behind the plan includes senior executives who have held roles at Disney and Universal Pictures. They believe the studio will be worth an estimated €50 million a year to the Mullingar economy.
