Plans have been unveiled for a major new television and film production centre in Digbeth, Birmingham.
Digbeth Loc. Studios is the brainchild of acclaimed British screenwriter, director and producer, Steven Knight, who alongside business partner, TIME+SPACE CEO Piers Read, intends to create a long-term cultural legacy for his home city by converting disused Victorian era buildings into a state-of-the-art studio complex.
The new centre will consist of three film studios in addition to production offices and construction workshops spanning 80,000 sq ft in the Creative Quarter. The project has received £1.3m of City Deal funding for capital works from Birmingham City Council and landowner Homes England
The initial funding will unlock further investment and the wider development plans required to bring the full studio complex forward. Construction work on site commenced today and are expected to complete by 15 July. The first filming at the new studios will take place in October.
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.
“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.”
Read addded: “As the former MD of the Custard Factory in Digbeth, ever since I left, I always wanted to be back, and this announcement today sees that dream become a reality. This is just the beginning. For us, it is all about making a place that provides the experience to producers providing the key amenities and creature comforts the modern-day production deserves. This is something TIME + SPACE has a proven track record of delivering.”
