A NEW multi-million centre for digital creative industries will create “the Basildon equivalent of Silicon Valley”.

Basildon Council has secured £4.4 million of Arts Council funding to turn council-owned empty properties in the town centre into a creative facility for screen and immersive digital industries.

The former Robins Cinema and British Heart Foundation will be transformed in a project to attract businesses and freelancers working in the film, TV, gaming, VFX and animation sectors to the town.

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Basildon, which already boasts and under-water filming studio and a further education campus for digital technologies, is set to position itself as an digital industry leader, council leader Andrew Baggott says.

“This is right at the heart of what we wanted to do with Basildon,” he told BBC radio Essex.

“We have been saying that retail was to an extent on its knees and what we needed to do was try and support retail in some way and one of the ways is to support it via media and that industry.

“We have the college which opened recently which is all geared around technology and bringing people in from the second stream of education into the tech sector.”

The Conservative Burstead councillor added: “This new project will hopefully create an eco-system that will support both retail and also start to put supply chains in place for a hub of digital media creation and what that does is create the Basildon equivalent of Silicon Valley but from a media point of view.”

Councillor Kerry Smith said: “The town is specialising and really putting its name on the map for being the place to learn about film, tele and technology.

“We will create a conveyor belt of people getting qualifications, with a hub for employment just down the road.”

The South Essex College Centre for Digital Technologies opened in Basildon in 2021 and currently provides education and training to 355 young people. 

“The announcement of the creative campus funding approval is welcome and exciting news and South Essex College looks forward to working with the creative campus on a range of collaborative projects to the benefit of students, employers and the community,” a college spokesman said.