A new report from BOP Consulting forecasts that the BBC’s commitment to the West Midlands area will bring an additional £282m in GVA

The BBC’s investment in Birmingham’s creative quarter, Digbeth, and the wider West Midlands region, is likely to bring £282m in gross value added (GVA) and hundreds of jobs over the next decade, says a new report.

The independent study was carried out by BOP Consulting in partnership with City-REDI; it concludes that the predicted GVA represents an increase of 44% on what otherwise would have been the case, without the corporation’s commitment to the region.

As recently revealed on The Knowledge, the 29th series of Silent Witness is now in prep at The Bond studio in Digbeth, with MasterChef having already relocated to a new studio in the same area. As long-running soap Doctors comes to an end this week, the BBC has laid out its commitment to reinvesting that funding into new programming in the region; BBC Studios Drama Productions, that produces titles including Silent Witness, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Father Brown and Sister Boniface, is setting up a regional hub and post-production facility in Digbeth.

A keystone of the investment plans overall is the move of BBC Midlands HQ to a new broadcast centre at the Tea Factory, also in Digbeth.

The BBC’s renewed commitment to the region is estimated to generate 910 additional full-time equivalent jobs supported by the broadcaster in the region – a 94% increase on the baseline.

BBC director-general Tim Davie said: “This report highlights the scale of the opportunity for both the BBC and the region in the years ahead. We believe in making world-class content from Digbeth; putting the people and the place at the epicentre of the creative industries while reflecting their stories. We will continue to work closely with our partners and the authorities across the sector to keep pace with our ambition to unlock the full potential of the West Midlands.”

As well as the BBC’s commitment to the area, Steven knight has long championed the area as an under-tapped creative talent pool, and his studio, Digbeth Loc., has already raised the profile of the creative quarter and the wider region as a production hub.