NEW PRODUCTION STUDIOS AIMS TO CREATE OVER 700 JOBS
New film and TV production studios which could create 760 jobs have been launched in Birmingham.
Spades have gone in the ground at the Digbeth Loc. project which is being spearheaded by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Construction on the site is expected to complete in July, ready for occupation, with the first filming then taking place from October.
Mr Knight is working with Piers Read, chief executive of cultural property regeneration specialist Time + Space, to create a long-term cultural legacy for his home city by welcoming companies to the multimedia headquarters.
The development will see disused, old Victorian era buildings converted into a modern complex, comprising three film studios, production offices and construction workshops, spanning 80,000 sq ft.
It has been in the pipeline for years but this week marks concrete progress in the project which at one stage was tabled for land near the NEC in Solihull.
It is supported by a £1.3 million investment from Birmingham City Council, together with landowner Homes England and support from the West Midlands Combined Authority.
The studios, at the Warwick Bar Conservation Area next to the canal at 122 Fazeley Street, are anticipated to contribute more than £30 million to the local economy.
Some productions have already committed to using the site, including BBC drama This Town about the region’s ska and two-tone heritage and MasterChef, which will be based in the former “Banana Warehouse” at the same site after renovation plans were lodged last year.
An area of the new studios is also expected to be occupied by legendary Birmingham reggae band UB40.
Mr Knight said: “It’s so exciting that this day has come and after a lot of hard work by lots of people at Homes England, Birmingham City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Our plans are ambitious and we will be making TV and movies on an international scale.”
He added: “We are planting an industry in the fertile soil of Birmingham and we need local people to make it happen. We have structures in place to begin the business of training local people in the skills needed and we want people to know that this is a viable industry that is here to stay.
We’re setting up in the heart of, what was once, Peaky Blinders country and it’s very fitting that we are bringing it all back home.”
