Industrial units to let

Stowfield Cable Works Forest of Dean

Lydbrook, Gloucestershire GL 17 9NG

Stowfield Cable Works is a historic industrial site re-purposed for modern requirements. The site, originally manufactured much of the British Army’s telephone cable in WWI and part of the top-secret Pluto Pipeline in WWII used to transport fuel to France after the Normandy landings. Stowfield now comprises 30,299 sq. m (326,150 sq. ft) of industrial units and offices, across 7 buildings.

Suitable uses include logistics, storage, workshops, processing and office accommodation. Units can be fitted according to bespoke occupier requirements. We are currently in the process of installing over 350 kWp of solar power, which we expect to make a significant contribution to occupier’s electricity consumption and, is part of our aim to reduce the site’s carbon footprint.

AVAILABILITY

Flexible units, ready to be customised to suit your company’s requirement.

Unit sizes range from 3,000-50,000sqft, refurbished to provide modern and efficient space. Click on the tab below for details of the units available.

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THE INDUSTRIAL SITE

Features

Designed to make working convenient and rewarding

Newly refurbish unit
24 hours access
Private yards
7m e ves height
Reception service

Occupiers

Suitable for a range of different businesses

Logistics
Light industrial
Workshops
Storage
Processing
Office accommodation

Transaction

Simple short-form lease at an all-inclusive monthly price

Our simplified lease contract will save you time and costs

Simple shortform lease
All-inclusive monthly plan
Transparent pricing
Budget with certainty

History of Stowfield

Railways and the birth of Stowfield: the origins of Stowfield lie in the great railway expansion of the 19th century. The Ross and Monmouth Railway was authorised in 1865 and opened in 1873. At its peak the line carried some 200,000 passengers a year and a significant volume of local freight.

Stowfield developed an important junction where a secondary line passed through Lydbrook towards Gloucester. It was around this junction that the large factory complex of Stowfield developed, with goods easily transported through to Gloucester and thereafter into the wider national rail network.

History of Stowfield

World War I: in 1912, following the establishment of the railway connections, Harold J Smith purchased land at Stowfield and erected the Lydbrook Cable Works. The First World War provided a number of contracts with employee numbers expanding from 40 to 650 with double shifts being worked.

It was said the works provided a significant proportion of all the telephone cable used by the British army during WWI. The old boiler house remains as one of the earliest buildings on site, with the year 1916 carved in cut stone above its main entrance.

History of Stowfield

World War II and PLUTO: with the end of WWI, came a slump in business, and in 1920 the Official Receiver was brought in ending Smith's connection with the factory. The business was bought in 1925 by Edison Swan Electric Company. With the greater resources available the plant at Stowfield further expanded.

In WWII it became a top secret location possessing one of only four machines for making lead alloy tube needed for P.L.U.T.O. – (Petroleum Lines Under The Ocean), which allowed fuel to be supplied to the Allied landings in France in 1944. Integrated with the Siemens Brothers Cable Works at Woolwich the Stowfield Factory at its height employed approximately 1,100 people.