EastEnders and project management: behind the scenes at the soap’s studio HQ

It’s not every day you get to have a childhood dream come true. So, when I was invited to visit Elstree Studios and the set of BBC soap EastEnders for Project’s autumn issue, I jumped at the chance to go behind the scenes to visit the construction and refurbishment project. I also enjoyed a tour of Albert Square and the Queen Vic, and even watched some filming in the café.

It was intriguing to see how the very different worlds of construction and TV production can rub along together, and both achieve what needs to get done.

High stakes and high drama

The Art Deco studios at Elstree have been home to the iconic London-set soap since 1985. For those of you who aren’t fans (I’ll confess I was an avid watcher until my mid-20s), 2025 was an important year for the programme, which filmed a live episode in February to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The episode included the level of drama every die-hard fan would want: an explosion-devastated Queen Vic pub, Sonia giving birth and Martin Fowler tragically dying.

The project I went to see was completed in July 2025, with the aim of giving the studios a new lease of life and making the BBC some money in the process. The 16-acre site was sold to AXA and Oxygen Studios as a joint venture in March 2025 for an unconfirmed £70m, with the BBC entering into a leaseback agreement that covered around half the footprint.

In January 2024, work began on the build and fit-out of offices and post-production suites for EastEnders, and in September 2024 work began on creating 54 new dressing rooms, a crew and cast café and costume stores. In February, the BBC successfully vacated the non-leaseback area to deadline.

The stress of live filming

All of this project work took place during EastEnders’ 40th anniversary celebrations, including the filming of the live episode. I interviewed Simon Alston, Strategic Transformation Director at BBC Studios, and suggested that this must have been one of the most stressful times for him.

“I did point out to everybody that the live episode was brilliant, but it would be happening about 10 days before the key commercial cut-off date of the vacant possession,” he told me.

Dr Jon Folly, director of J4 Projects, is the main contractor and has been responsible for delivering the project for the BBC. We met at the On the Dot café, which opened in April. The reception area is kitted out to look like the inside of the Queen Vic pub, with cast photos and TV awards trophies everywhere. It’s housed in a building that was used for scenery storage and filming hospital drama Holby City.

The glue that sticks the project together

Folly describes his team’s role in managing the project as “the glue that holds everyone together. Whatever needs to be done, we’ll do it in whatever way. Of course we have our processes, toolkits, trackers, change controls and all of that good stuff, but that’s probably only 20% of what we do. The other 80% is the people – you’ve got to give to receive.

“It’s a dynamic project, things are changing, and you’ve got a wide cross-section of people here. It’s understanding everyone’s drivers. Put your feet in their shoes and try and understand where they’re coming from and see if you can help them. They’ll repay the favour when you need it.”

We look around the production suites, including the storyboarding office, before moving downstairs to the post-production edit suites. It looks like a hip East London coworking space (think Hackney, not Walford). It’s hard to imagine while we walk around the light-filled mezzanine level that, not so long ago, this was a derelict space with a leaky roof and pigeons flapping about. The building is now home to departments that were once scattered around the studio site, but are now able to easily chat to each other. A workspace like this oils collaboration.

It's all in the details

The corridors are adorned with photos from the show and the actors who played characters like Pat Butcher (her earrings are framed on the wall). I’m given a guided tour of the studios. Albert Square is just how it looks on TV – they’re real buildings, but it’s the level of creative detail that is so impressive. The chewing gum marks on the pavements are painted on – so is the rust on the railings.

Because episodes are recorded three months ahead of airing, the seasons need to be reflected on set in unbelievably detailed ways. For example, leaves are pulled off trees in the summer to give the impression of autumn, and fake leaves stuck on in winter to convey springtime. Even the sandwiches in the fridges in the mini-mart had photos of the real thing glued behind the plastic wrapping. What took the biscuit, however, was the London Underground map displayed outside the fictional Walford East tube station, modified to squeeze in this extra station.

Want more? Read my feature in the autumn 2025 issue of Project, and listen to APM Podcast’s episode ‘EastEnders at Elstree Studios: behind the scenes of a project to redevelop the site’, wherever you get your podcasts.