Birmingham’s Digbeth Loc. Studios opens for business

Birmingham is looking to establish a “golden era” for TV production as landmark production hub Digbeth Loc. Studios opens for bookings today.

The studios, which are anticipated to support 760 local jobs and contribute more than £30m to the West Midlands economy, are the brainchild of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and business partner Time+Space chief executive Piers Read.

Their stated ambition is to ensure that the city has a long-term cultural legacy by welcoming major, blue-chip brands to the multimedia HQ.

“What we want to do is plant a thriving industry in Birmingham - we don’t want to be a kind of spaceship that lands,” Knight told Broadcast. “We want local people working on projects and to really engage with the city.”

The landmark development will convert disused, old Victorian era buildings into a modern, state-of-the-art studio complex, comprising three film studios, production offices and construction workshops, spanning 80,000 sq.ft of regenerated space in Birmingham’s Creative Quarter, Digbeth.

It has been established with £1.3m of investment from Birmingham City Council, together with landowner Homes England and support from the West Midlands Combined Authority.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the studios will help to “usher in a golden era for our burgeoning creative sector.”

Construction on the site begins today (21 March) and is expected to be completed by 15 July.

The first phase of the project is already complete, with Shine TV’s BBC cookery flagship MasterChef and spin-offs including MasterChef: The Professionals set to move to the production hub in 2024. Knight’s upcoming BBC drama This Town (formerly titled Two-Tone) has almost completed its production with the studios, with more in the pipeline.

The studios represent the first major television and film production facilities of this scale ever to be developed in Birmingham, which has largely fallen through the gaps in UK broadcasters’ regional investment.

Knight has ambition for the studios to able to host a shiny-floor studio with live capabilities in the future.

‘A blank canvas for creators’

An area of the new studios is also expected to be occupied by Birmingham reggae band UB40, demonstrating the range of multimedia the hub hopes to house for upcoming and existing creative talent.

“We want Digbeth Loc. Studios to be a blank canvas for creators,” said Knight.

His future ambitions is for the studios to house a range of large and small producers, with a solid pipeline for new talent to emerge.

“We’re not going to invite young people in, get them to make tea and not pay them,” he added.

Through his creative partnership with Banijay label Kudos, Knight has partnered with the Birmingham Film Academy to help address the current talent crunch.

A fifth of the Academy’s intake will receive free education, with recipients chosen from specific Birmingham postcodes.

BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore added: “Given the BBC’s commitment to grow production capability in Birmingham, it’s great to see the plans for Digbeth as the city’s Creative Quarter come to fruition.

”With the BBC HQ moving to the Tea Factory, MasterChef moving into the old Banana Warehouse, and now the Bond and Digbeth Loc. Studios opening, it’s a very exciting time for film and programme makers in the region.”