A £65m plan to build a major film studio outside Edinburgh, on the grounds of Heriot Watt University, will be officially lodged with the city next month.

Guardhouse Studios' plan includes eight studio buildings as well as exterior lots, and it will be related to another new studio which is to be built in the north of Italy by Guardhouse.

Guardhouse, whose president Surya Iacono has already held talks with Scottish Enterprise over the plans, said the plans are detailed and at an advanced stage, and added: "This is not a maybe, we are going to do this."

Last year Ms Iacono expressed frustration with the lack of backing from Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government over the plans, which are backed by private investors in the US, including some figures, who wish to remain anonymous, in Hollywood.

However plans have now advanced to the stage that Guardhouse Studios, whose designs are by Scottish architects Reiach and Hall, will formally apply for planning permission from the City of Edinburgh council this summer.

They include eight large sound stages as well as a "green" power plant.

The wholly privately funded plan, if planning permission is granted, would be the second studio plan to be "green lit" after the Scottish Government gave permission in principle to the Pentland Studio plans last week.

Guardhouse met with the Film Studio Delivery Group in August last year for a presentation, as well as officials from Edinburgh City Council, and the plans have received backing in writing from Scottish Enterprise and the council.

Property developers GVA, led by senior director Keith Aitken, are working with Guardhouse on the plans, along with the architects and power plant experts.

"I am 150% certain that this will work, and sure that Scotland can sustain our business plan," Ms Iacono added.

"Scotland needs film industry infrastructure, you have so many major productions coming to Scotland to film, like Avengers [shooting in Edinburgh] but they have nowhere to process it...so they go down to England and Wales," she said.

"There's no good reason why Scotland cannot have a studio.

"It offers jobs and a creative space for film makers, and in another world, if Scotland becomes indepedent, Scotland will absolutely need an independent film studio of its own.

"If Estonia can build a film studio of its own, if Yorkshire can, then Scotland has to - it has too much to offer."

The plan is to build at Heriot-Watt University Research Park facilities at Research Avenue North, with sound stages accompanied by production and post-production facilities.

The studio will be a partner to another studio Guardhouse are planning to build in Italy in the town of Roncello, near Milan, and like the Heriot Watt project close to a major airport.

Ms Iacono said the film studio project plans is only for a film studio, and attendant educational facilities, and has no retail or other elements.

She said that when the plans are officially submitted to the council they will be "extensive and detailed".

On behalf of the Film Studio Delivery Group, a Creative Scotland spokesperson said: "We continue to welcome private sector-led developments for film and TV studio facilities in Scotland."

Last week the Scottish Government gave the greenlight to another film studio plan, Pentland Studios, overturning the recommendation by the Government reporter.

Pentland Studios still have to apply for planning permission in detail to Midlothian Council for to the site, at Straiton, which has proved controversial due to local opposition, opposition from Green MSPs, and the tenant farmer who lives on part of the land.

A statement from developers Pentland Studios Limited said: “We’re very pleased with the decision by ministers to approve planning permission in principle for Scotland’s world-class film and TV studio complex, and we will be moving forward immediately with the application for planning permission in detail.

"Working together with Midlothian Council, we hope this next stage will be expedited accordingly, recovering the construction scheduling that will enable delivery of the key studio operation by late 2018.”