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CoSTAR Network animated living logo – alternate version 1, a still frame from the brand identity film
How CoSTAR works

Infrastructure

One of the largest ever investments in the UK's creative industries.

Aerial view of Production Park in Wakefield, Yorkshire, the site of the CoSTAR Live Lab, showing the campus and surrounding area
Aerial view of Production Park in Wakefield, Yorkshire, the site of the CoSTAR Live Lab, showing the campus and surrounding area
What does our infrastructure do?

CoSTAR's infrastructure gives creative companies unprecedented and inclusive access to specialist facilities, expertise and technical capabilities across five UK Labs.

In a rapidly evolving industry, our infrastructure is designed to outpace the rate of change by creating a flexible platform for experimentation and production with a unique combination of facilities and expertise. 

Our studio Labs are equipped with connectivity that allows creatives to harness technology in whole new ways with:

  • state-of-the-art facilities tailored to each Lab's specialism including sound stages, spatial audio and motion capture facilities
  • integrated media networking
  • private 5G connectivity providing a platform for creative experimentation across each CoSTAR facility 
  • AI Compute capability with high performance servers and ultra-fast storage due to significantly expand in May 2026
  • access to CoSTAR Network's world class researchers, technologists and engineers
  • industry partners

This will provide a platform for new forms of collaboration between geographically distributed experts and research teams, allowing the UK to lead in developing the next generation of production workflows, digital performance, and multi-sensory storytelling. 

CoSTAR Network invites UK companies of all sizes to take part in regular, funded opportunities to experiment with and test our infrastructure, while providing business support for growth.

Our CoSTAR Network creative technologists, engineers & researchers will also collaborate with industry on prototyping projects.   

CoSTAR is a place for thinking, connecting, developing, testing, building and innovating

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Interior of a virtual production studio at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, part of the CoSTAR Realtime Lab network
A large audience watching a live concert, illustrating the audiences that CoSTAR Network technologies are designed to serve
A presenter speaking to an audience at a CoSTAR National Lab Brain Bar innovation session
Two performers wearing motion capture suits during a session at the CoSTAR Live Lab, University of York and Production Park, February 2025
A person using an augmented reality headset during the CoSTAR Realtime Lab launch event at Abertay University, Dundee

Our infrastructure is housed in five Labs across the UK in London, Surrey/Buckinghamshire, York, Belfast, and Dundee. Find out about full studio specifications below.

AI Compute specifications

This infrastructure is purpose-built to support training and prototyping of advanced AI systems—such as multimodal generative models for the creative industries—while also enabling research and development across academia, startups, and industry partners.

BT 5G infrastructure

BT 5G infrastructure offers a secure private network to support development, testing and demonstration activity for CoSTAR network labs and associated companies.

A technician or researcher working with equipment at the CoSTAR National Lab, representing the funding and support available through the networkA technician or researcher working with equipment at the CoSTAR National Lab, representing the funding and support available through the network
Funding and support