50 | Tees Business
NEXT
GENERATION
FUTURE VISION UNVEILED
FOR BOHO DIGITAL CLUSTER
The vision for the next phase of
Middlesbrough’s cutting edge
digital sector has been unveiled
T
he Boho Next Generation report
outlines a £20m investment to grow
the city’s burgeoning Digital Cluster.
The high-level masterplan maps out the
creation of a Boho Zone ‘Digital Campus’
alongside the former town hall building
within Middlehaven, attracting £20m in
investment, including 400,000sq ft of
facilities and creating up to 2,000 jobs.
The report – agreed by Middlesbrough
Council’s Executive - sets out a powerful
strategic and market case for the
continued growth of the Boho Zone within
Middlehaven.
The strategy highlights a clear need for
additional specialist accommodation for
digital businesses – including up to 100
housing units within the Campus setting –
to meet the needs of the sector and further
unlock its potential.
Middlesbrough’s established digital sector
– nearly 200 businesses – has grown by
27% since 2010 to account for 6% of all
businesses in the borough, and more than
18% of all digital and creative businesses in
Councillor Charlie Rooney
(left) and Cllr Lewis Young,
executive member for economic
development and infrastructure,
view a hologram of the new Boho
development
the Tees Valley.
Boho Next Generation will add £28.5m
in GVA per annum to the local and regional
economy – growing to £114m as the
Campus expands.
Every new digital job created in
Middlesbrough and Tees Valley has a
disproportionately positive effect on the
local economy, adding £57,000 GVA per
employee, compared with the average for
all sectors of £46,800.
The Digital Cluster – spearheaded by
Middlesbrough Council, Teesside University
and the Digital City strategic partnership
– was recognised in last year’s influential
TechNation Report as one of the leading
tech clusters in the UK.
The businesses themselves stress the
business benefits of being co-located
alongside other firms in the digital sector,
with high quality design a prerequisite to
the development’s continued success.
Digital Middlesbrough manager Dan
Watson said: “The local sector is healthy
and growing locally and future prospects
are positive, with digital and creative
businesses in the Tees Valley very confident
about their growth prospects.
“The time is therefore right for a bold,
collaborative vision that will build on what