The creative regions research looks at the ‘creative industries’ defining those as including film, TV, media, digital computer programming and information services. CBRE used a range of metrics including educational attainment levels, creative employment concentrations, university research & computing degree rankings, millennial populations, affordability of housing, labour costs and office space costs.

The company claims that the regions listed are those which ‘possess a fusion of the key attributes the sector requires to flourish. These are also the markets with the greatest potential to attract and accommodate future growth.’

The five most creative regions in the UK, with their overall scores, are:

1. Manchester: 78.6
2. Reading: 67.8
3. Edinburgh: 66.7
4. Cambridge: 66.3
5. Glasgow: 64.6

The scoring system is based upon the 15 key metrics for every local authority district in the UK. This data was aggregated into larger ‘primary urban areas’, to give a total of 64 regions across the country. CBRE then weighted the metrics to produce a score and ranking for each location indicating its competitive advantages and appeal to creative companies.

The research highlights Edinburgh as having one of the highest levels of creative businesses in the UK, with 19% of office space in the city, including co-working and hot-desking space, is being taken up by creative businesses. This is in comparison to a 16% take up in Manchester, 5% in Glasgow and 3% in Aberdeen.

The report notes that the ‘digital economy’, which is becoming ubiquitous across all business sectors, is estimated to add approximately £87 billion to the economy each year, contributing significant employment and economic growth to cities and regions across the UK.

The whole report can be found on the CBRE website.