Plans afoot for £15.5m ‘studiotel’ in Dundee

Plans are in action for Dundee to become the first city to host a "studio-tel", a new type of games studio that features working spaces alongside living areas.

This £15.5m project is part of Dundee’s £1bn waterfront redevelopment, and it’s been created by local organisation UK Games Talent & Finance, the organisation that handles the government’s £4m UK Games Fund.

The studio will supposedly feature everything needed for video games development, but will also include accommodation for international visitors or staff. This has been suggested as a way for Dundee to improve its standing and reestablish itself as an international games hub, drawing studios from further afield that are eying up expansion to the United Kingdom

A combined studio/living space seems to be completely unaware of the struggles several parts of the industry have with the concept of "crunch", but the project has passed the outline stage, where it is aiming to be approved under the Tay Cities Deal — which handles the development of the area — and now needs to be developed into a strategic case.

"As a UK and international-facing organisation, we have been actively seeking a home for this concept," said UK Games Talent & Finance’s chief exec Paul Durrant. "We want to grow the volume of original digital intellectual property created and marketed from within the Tay Cities region and attract money and talent to support our growing wealth of creativity."

Most of the cash to fund the building will come from a private sector developer, although the Tay Cities Deal process will be responsible for contributing another £2m. Supporters of the project are claiming that the Studiotel will increase development talent in the city, in addition to becoming a local attraction that can host 200,000 people with public events. They also claim that it could contribute £70m over the next ten years to Dundee’s economy.