Tim Edensor - British Industrial Ruins

In the past three decades of the 20th century, the Western world has witnessed massive industrial restructuring. New service and information technology industries have replaced the old heavy industries which saw countries such as Britain, workshop of the world and home of the industrial revolution, export its products worldwide. The buildings which house these new industries – the large retail sheds and factory units on new industrial estates – are replacing the often capacious stone and brick-built factories and warehouses which accommodated the assembly lines of mass production. These structures, nestling alongside railways and canals, are suddenly obsolete. Very often they are quickly demolished or converted into upmarket living spaces for the new middle classes, ironically the very personnel who work in the new cultural, service and information industries which are replacing the manufacturing production which was housed in the buildings in which they now live. However, across the old industrial nations, many old factories are evacuated and then left to decay. In the old industrial districts of cities and towns, derelict mills, foundries, engineering workshops and storage depots slowly crumble into disrepair. Especially in those urban areas which lack inward investment to demolish, replace or convert such buildings, these ruins linger, thwarting the attempts of city imagineers and marketers to create new visions that might help to sell their city to potential investors.
Tim Edensor - British Industrial Ruins