Industrial Estates and British Industrial Development, 1897-1939.

This paper examines the role of pre-1939 British industrial estates as new industrial districts for rapid growth industries. Closely associated with 'new' industries and highly concentrated in the South East, industrial estates rapidly expanded to accomodate plant employing around 285 000 people by 1939. They are shown to have provided a number of important advantages to manufacturers, including external economies of scale, reduced production costs, and accelerated growth. A statistical analysis of the national growth of estate facilities and their employment is provided, together with an assessment of their contribution to industrial development in the South East over 1932-38.