Set up new creative premises
The UK's rich creative environment means plentiful location options, with great opportunities for support and collaboration.
Creative industries clusters
The UK is recognised as a global leader in the creative industries, and each region of the country has its own strengths as a creative location. Clusters include:
Manchester
Manchester is rich in specialist talent, with a creative workforce of over 80,000 and a steady flow of creative graduates from the city’s 5 universities. It’s also home to the MediaCity development, a base for the UK television companies BBC and ITV Granada.
Northern Ireland
With increased studio capacity and extensive production expertise, Northern Ireland has attracted streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Studio Ulster, a specialist virtual production space, was recently established in Belfast.
Coventry and Warwickshire
Warwickshire has 15% of the UK’s games producers in 80 studios. The area has 2 world-renowned universities with courses in games technology, Coventry University and the University of Warwick.
London
London has several globally recognised art colleges, including the Royal College of Art and University of the Arts London. The city has a strong research and development base in the creative industries.
Guildford, Surrey
Guildford, near London, is an immersive tech hub, with over 100 games development studios.
Incubators and accelerators
The UK’s system of incubator and accelerator programmes can help you set up and grow your creative company, especially if you’re in the digital startup space.
Incubators
Incubators are business growth programmes which provide physical space for startups. They are situated across the UK. Rent charges are often subsidised, and you’ll have access to shared facilities and business support services.
Accelerators
Accelerators will typically offer your company services through an intensive programme, of 3 to 12 months. They tend to be more growth-driven than incubators, as they often offer direct funding in return for equity (typically less than 10%).
Read more about incubators and accelerators on GOV.UK
Find out more about collaboration opportunities and spaces for innovative UK companies in our guide to incentives, funding and support in the UK.
Find office space
The UK has a competitive market of specialised serviced office companies, professional services companies and virtual office providers, all ensuring costs are kept low for clients.
Virtual offices allow companies to meet any legal obligation to have a registered address in the UK, without paying for a physical office.
You can compare prices for office or other space on commercial property search engines, such as Estates Gazette, and the websites of office advisory services like Instant Offices or Flexi Offices.
Regulations
The UK has set out its plan for future digital regulation on GOV.UK.
You can find more information on the various categories of existing and future digital regulation on TechUK's digital regulation hub.
Intellectual property
The UK has an effective legal framework in place to protect your company’s creative ideas and designs. Find more information on UK patents, trade marks, copyright and designs on GOV.UK.
Next steps
Get advice on setting up your creative business from UK experts – find their contact details on the Investment Support Directory.