THE WEEK IN BUSINESS COMMERCIAL PROPERTY | ASK THE EXPERTS City trails others in creative sector

BIRMINGHAM is only the seventh most attractive UK city for creative businesses, according to a new report.

Though the city ranks higher than Bristol and Leeds, it falls behind Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford for those companies working in fields such as publishing, film, TV and digital. Manchester tops the list as the presence of BBC and ITV at Media City in Salford has proved a magnet for companies in the sector for several years now.

The Creative Regions report, published by property consultancy CBRE, said Birmingham did scored highly in a number of areas.

Employment in the information and communications sector and the proportion of ‘millennials’ (20 to 34 year-olds) is growing faster in Birmingham than in Manchester.

The growth of SMEs in Birmingham – 5.9 per cent in the last five years – also dwarfs that of Manchester (1.1 per cent).

Birmingham currently has the third highest concentration of information and communications professionals – around 24,000 people work in the sector, compared to more than 27,000 in Reading and more than 45,000 in Manchester.

The city has the second highest number of information and communications SMEs – nearly 4,000 – with Manchester stealing the lead with more than 5,000.

Ashley Hancox, national team head of offices for CBRE, said: “The BBC’s move to Salford has been a game-changer for Manchester, in much the same way that the mooted move of Channel 4 to Birmingham and Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight’s proposed film studios could be. These would undoubtedly cement our reputation as a creative and digital hotspot and entice new talent to the city.

“Birmingham is quickly playing catch up with Britain’s third city –our fast-growing SME and millennial populations means we are hot on their heels. The majority of creative and digital business are small in scale so typically require smaller space. They also like to cluster in multi-occupancy technology and innovation hubs, the likes of which have sprung up in Birmingham in recent years.”

The top ten creative towns and cities with their scores are: 1) Manchester 2) Reading 3) Edinburgh 4) Cambridge 5) Glasgow 6) Oxford 7) Birmingham 8) Bristol 9) Brighton 10) Leeds.