The Bottle Yard Studios: Building a sustainable film hub in the West

Earlier on this year the Partnership’s Climate Leaders Group went on tour to The Bottle Yard Studios in South Bristol. Alongside exploring a history-rich site that has been repurposed into a film and tv studio powered in part by a gigantic community-owned solar rooftop, the group also learnt about the sustainability initiatives and community-focused work that The Bottle Yard are championing on site and across Bristol.

A history of restoration

The Bottle Yard Studios is the largest film and tv studio in the Southwest of England offering 11 different studio spaces across two sites. Community and regeneration have always been embedded in the story of The Bottle Yard since its origin as a winery back in the 1950s. With the support of Bristol City Council, in 2010 the disused industrial site was transformed into a hub for film and television production, driven by the need to keep local crews working after the BBC relocated production of Casualty, one of Bristol’s longest-running returning series, to Wales. This people-focused ethos is a driving force of The Bottle Yard Studios to this day.

By offering a range of studio sizes and types across its two sites – the newer of which, TBY2, opened in 2022 following a £12 million expansion backed by West of England Combined Authority investment – The Bottle Yard fills a unique niche within the film industry and ensures diversity of clientele. Its original site TBY1 offers older, more affordable studio space for low-to-mid level budget productions, whilst its premium sound stages at TBY2 attract larger, higher budget titles, which in turn bring benefits to the local film sector by way of employment and workflow for local freelancers and companies. Across both sites, sustainability and people take centre stage.

Prioritising sustainability and nature over profit

The Bottle Yard Studios has an extensive sustainability-first commitment, which you find out more about here. Highlights include:

• Decarbonising buildings. For example, the state-of-the-art TBY2 facility was built with a sophisticated building management system that controls built-in heating, cooling and ventilation across all stages, optimising energy conservation, alongside utilising renewable energy.
• Energy. TBY2 hosts a 100% renewable 1MW solar rooftop, which, at the time of installation, was the largest on any UK film studio. As well as generating power for the site, excess energy is used to help decarbonise energy at other Council-owned sites, thanks to Bristol City Leap’s sleeving network. By embarking on an innovative funding partnership with Bristol Energy Cooperative, the Studios and its owners Bristol City Council were able to install a final array that was nearly three times bigger than initially planned. It is believed to be the largest community-owned rooftop PV installation in the UK. Read more here.
• Transport. The Bottle Yard Studios encourage sustainable travel through onsite EV points, cycling facilities, and electric bike charging.
• Ecology. The Studio has installed bird and bat boxes alongside running pollinator programmes and 10% of the TBY2 site is an established woodland. They could have put another studio on this site to increase profits, but instead they chose to prioritise nature.
• Staff inclusion and training. Sustainability is everyone’s responsibility at Bottle Yard. Sustainability is included in all job descriptions, they host a green team, and run carbon literacy training, alongside BAFTA albert Studio Sustainability training, for all staff.
• Client engagement. They have developed different kinds of client facing policies and communications that enable, influence and incentivise sustainable filmmaking activities e.g. the Client Sustainability Toolkit, with content including a local Green Suppliers Directory.

Both Bottle Yard Studios’ sites are fully BAFTA Albert Studio Sustainability Standard Accredited. Not only that, but TBY2 scored highest amongst all other studios participating globally in the current (2025-26) year of the rigorous industry benchmarking process.

Overcoming hurdles

Production waste is a major sustainability issue that The Bottle Yard Studios is working hard to overcome. Their own commitment is to ensure that as much as possible is reused, repurposed or reenergised, with as little as possible being bought new.

However, this ethos can be harder to extend to the independent production teams hiring their space, where creative assets like props, scenery and costumes are only needed for a short time. The Bottle Yard team therefore works closely with production teams to support them in preparing for end of life as soon as possible, through measures such as:

• Establishing active links with community organisations and industry partners to assist the repurpose and reuse of everything from sets and office furniture to work clothing and costumes.
• Connecting incoming productions with outgoing ones to encourage reuse of production office resources.

They also have a single use plastic policy and work with Olio to collect catering waste from their productions and redeliver to local communities.

Temporary power remains one of the biggest sustainability challenges facing screen production. Due to the high cost of batteries, film and TV productions often use energy intensive and diesel fuelled generators; presenting perhaps the most pressing sustainability challenge that many in the UK film industry are striving to address. The Bottle Yard Studios and its partners Bristol Film Office have pledged their support for SPARK, the UK film and TV industry’s roadmap launched by BAFTA Albert to transition entirely to clean temporary power and phase out fossil-fuel standalone generators by 2030.

As part of their work in this area, the latest exciting development at the Studios has been the installation of a new Battery Storage and Recharging Depot to support the West of England Clean Power Pilot. Delivered by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, Bristol City Council, ACT 1.5 and multiple clean power providers, this world-first pilot is designed to power festivals, cultural events and film and TV productions across the region with 100% renewable electricity.

Supporting and building a community

At The Bottle Yard, sustainability goes beyond the Studios’ actions to reduce carbon emissions. They are striving to make sure that the film industry in the West of England is sustainable and thriving. Actions they are taking include:

• Working closely with their partners in Bristol Film Office to make sure that sustainable practices are supported on location as well as in the studio.
• Hosting skills programmes to attract and build people up in the sector, such as the  All Set West programme, which specifically targets people from groups currently underrepresented within the industry who are looking to enter into film and TV production careers. Green filming skills are embedded as a key part of this programme.
• Going beyond studio hire to signpost productions towards local specialist companies (including more than 15 permanent tenants based on site) that can provide everything a production may need to film in Bristol, whether it is in the studio or on location, without bringing resource in from elsewhere e.g. costume, special effects, health and safety, equipment hire etc.

The Bottle Yard Studios highlights the positive impact an organisation can have on lowering carbon emissions, strengthening community and supporting a local sector-specific industry, when sustainability is seen as a priority – an ethos which is reflected across the members of our Climate Leaders Group who attended the tour.

If you are an organisation with credible and ambitious emissions reduction targets and a plan for reaching them, the Climate Leaders group is open to new members.

More information about criteria can be found here.