Plan unveiled as David Yates’ Tarzan swings into action, WB CEO attends Downing Street event.

Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is to add three sound stages and a further 100,000 square feet of office space.

Construction of the three new sound stages, comprising one 35,000ft² and two 17,000ft² buildings, with 20,000ft² of adjacent office space, is set to be completed by the end of 2014, bringing the studios’ total number of sound stages to 13.

The news comes as production kicks off at the studio on action-adventure Tarzan from director David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Samuel L Jackson, Christoph Waltz.

The film will join Warner Bros.’ Pan, directed by Joe Wright, which has been filming at the studios and on location since April.

The announcement comes ahead of an industry reception tonight, hosted by the Prime Minster and Culture Secretary Sajid Javid at No10 Downing Street, aimed at celebrating the UK’s creative industries.

Guests include Kevin Tsujihara, CEO, Warner Bros. and Josh Berger, president and managing director, Warner Bros. UK.

Among plans to be unveiled by the government are the launch of the UKTI Creative Industries International Strategy which aims to double the value of creative industries exports to £31 billion, double the amount of creative services companies that export, and drive increased inward investment to the UK’s creative industries – all by 2020.

The strategy will set out a five-year action plan for Government and industry to bring greater prominence to the creative industries at home and abroad.

Also on the agenda will be the slashing of red tape by removing the requirement to apply for planning permission for location filming, a measure on which the Government is currently consulting.

Earlier in 2014, Levesden opened an extra 50,000ft² workshop space, a 62,500ft² external tank, and another new 48,400ft² sound stage.

The studios - the only facility outside of the US to be owned and operated by a Hollywood studio - currently account for more than one third of the available film production stage space in the UK and have to date hosted films including Edge of Tomorrow, Heart of the Sea and Man from U.N.C.L.E.