Deeley helps BAFTA winning firm move to North Bucks

A BAFTA award-winning company is moving to Buckingham – and bringing some terrifying friends along too.

Animatronics firm Crawley Creatures will move into the Swan Business Centre, in Buckingham, during May, following continued growth.

The company, which uses robotics to bring animatronics models to life, has worked on a series of high-profile films and television series, including Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the Flintstones and 007 Tomorrow Never Dies.

It also helped bring the BBC’s successful series Walking with Dinosaurs to a world-wide audience, winning two special-effects BAFTAs and an Emmy among a host of awards.

The firm has several long-term projects and decided to relocate from Aylesbury to the 3,198 sq ft unit, created by Deeley Properties, to help handle its growing demand.

Jez Gibson-Harris, managing director of the firm, said: “The company has been going in various forms since 1979, and we’ve worked on a lot of films and television series.

“We shot a pilot for Walking with Dinosaurs before the Millennium and doing that and its various spin-offs was a massive project.

“Now we’ve got new projects, such as creating robotic dinosaurs for a German museum.

“Our subsidiary company, i-bodi, is also creating specialist mannequins for defence research and development, so that certain types of clothing and apparatus can be tested.

“We’ve got to a point where we needed a better space. We chose our last unit simply because we needed somewhere after getting three orders in three weeks.

“This is a clean, new purpose built unit which we can set out as we need. We need separate laboratories for the different projects we do and having the extra space will help us to develop new areas of the business.”

Pat Moroney, director of Deeley Properties, said: “This is fantastic news for Buckinghamshire and for the Swan Business Centre

“It shows that, even in these difficult times, the ability to own and fit out your own building has great value in the long run

“Crawley Creatures has won the highest honours in television and film, and they will be bringing an exciting company to the town.

“My only concern is that the neighbours may be a little frightened on the day they move in because their models are extremely convincing!”

The Swan Business Centre is located on the A421. Only one unit, of 11, remains.

To see some of Crawley Creatures’ creations, visit www.crawley-creatures.com

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Caption: Jez Gibson-Harris, of Crawley Creatures (left) with Pat Moroney from Deeley Properties.