Between the wrap and the next call sheet, everything a production owns needs somewhere safe to sit. Props, set pieces, costumes, camera kit, lighting rigs — the physical inventory of a shoot doesn’t dissolve when the location does. Swift Secure Self Storage Containers in Salford gives Manchester productions a secure, weatherproof base for that inventory: a 10ft or 20ft steel container in a CCTV-monitored yard, minutes from MediaCityUK and Salford Quays.
Why productions need storage between shoots
Film and TV production is a peaks-and-troughs business. A shoot wraps on Friday and the next block starts in three weeks; the props truck goes back, the location is handed over, and the art department is left holding rails of costumes, flats, furniture and dressing that all need to be somewhere dry, secure and accessible until they’re called again. Hiring vans as rolling warehouses is the expensive answer. A container is the honest one: your kit sits in one place, under your own padlock, on a site with 24/7 CCTV monitoring, and you collect it on shoot days. No re-hiring, no re-loading, no paying a driver to babysit boxes.
What fits: props, sets, costumes and kit
A 20ft container swallows a surprising amount of production inventory: costume rails and wardrobe boxes, set dressing and small furniture, flats and rostra broken down, lighting stands and grip equipment, camera cases, sound kit, and the production office overflow — files, continuity binders, signage and branded materials. The 10ft unit suits smaller outfits: a costume designer’s rails, a props maker’s finished pieces, a videographer’s kit room. Everything goes in on wrap day and comes out on the next call sheet, in the order you loaded it — which is why experienced art departments load last-in-first-out and photograph the load plan.
10ft vs 20ft for production kit
The 10ft container — from £25/week — is the kit-room option: camera cases, sound bags, a costume rail or two, and the consumables shelf. The 20ft — from £40/week — is the art-department option: set pieces, furniture, flats, and room to walk in and find things without unpacking the world. Measure your longest single item (usually a flat or a lighting stand) and your widest (a costume rail), then check our size guide for the real internal dimensions. Productions that tour locations across the North West usually land on the 20ft: it doubles as the between-shoots base for everything that isn’t on the truck.
Minutes from MediaCityUK: a Salford base for the shoot calendar
This is the part that matters on a 6am call. Our yard is at 21 Cheltenham Street, Salford — minutes from MediaCityUK and the Quays, and an easy run to the city centre, Trafford and the M60. Kit collected at dawn is on location before the crew call, and wrap-day drop-offs don’t eat the evening. Manchester’s screen sector is only getting busier: the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has launched a £10.5m Production Fund to attract film and TV projects to the region, on top of creative industries already contributing more than £1.4bn to the local economy and supporting 48,000+ jobs — with the stated ambition of becoming the UK’s leading screen cluster outside London by 2028. Productions basing kit in Salford are positioning where the work is heading.
Security for high-value kit
Camera bodies, lenses, lighting heads and designer costumes are exactly the inventory that can’t be replaced overnight — and exactly what insurers ask about. Our yard runs 24/7 CCTV monitoring, and every container is secured with the hirer’s own padlock, so only your production holds the key. If your production insurance or the kit-hire company’s terms require monitored storage, ask us what the site provides and we’ll tell you straight — and our security guide explains the full setup. One honest note: containers are dry, wind-and-watertight steel, not climate-controlled vaults — film stock, tapes and anything humidity-sensitive needs its own cases and silica, not just a roof.
How it works: wrap-day drop-off, shoot-day collection
The rhythm is simple. On wrap day, the props truck or kit van comes to the yard, everything goes into your container in load-plan order, and you lock up. Between shoots, the art department can visit during opening hours — 7 days a week, 9am to 9pm — to pull a costume rail for a fitting or check a prop. On the next shoot day, it’s out and onto the truck. No minimum drama, no access windows that clash with call times, and pricing published up front so the line producer can budget it per week.
Flexible terms for irregular shoot schedules
Production calendars are the opposite of regular: three weeks on, a month off, a pickup shoot, a reshoot. Storage that demands a rigid long-term contract doesn’t fit that shape. Our units work on straightforward weekly terms from £25/week (10ft) or £40/week (20ft) — scale up to a second unit for a big build, scale back down when the production wraps for good. It’s a different proposition from exhibition storage (stands and stock between shows) or the artist studio listing (creative workspace) — this is purpose-built for the shoot calendar: props, sets, costumes and kit, held securely between call sheets.
Filming in Manchester or at MediaCityUK? Swift Secure Self Storage Containers Ltd, 21 Cheltenham Street, Salford M6 6WY — 10ft units from £25/week, 20ft from £40/week, 24/7 CCTV monitoring, open 7 days 9am–9pm. Call 07375 063637 to arrange a look at the yard.