Slide 1

South Wales IndustryStudents:Barda CatalinaBilca Larisa

South Wales is the region ofWalesbordered byEnglandand theBristol Channelto the east and south, andMid WalesandWest Walesto the north and west. The most densely populated region in the southwest of theUnited Kingdom, it is home to around 2.2 million people. TheBrecon Beaconsnational parkcovers about a third of South Wales, containingPen y Fan, the highest mountain south ofSnowdonia.

Industry is the production of a good or service within an economy. Manufacturing industry became a key sector of production and labour in European and North American countries during the Industrial Revolution, upsetting previous mercantile and feudal economies. This occurred through many successive rapid advances in technology, such as the production of steel and coal.

South Wales has experienced both growth and decline as an industrial area.

During the 19thCentury Southern Wales became a vitally important industrial area, for both iron and steel production. The steep valleys, with their fast flowing rivers, provided power and transport. The hills were rich with raw materials, such as coal, iron ore and limestone, and the area was close to the ports of Cardiff and Swansea.

In 1860 there were over 30 iron works in the valleys of South Wales. They provided vital employment for the local villages, which became almost solely dependent on the new industries.

During the next 40 years improvements in the smelting process meant that the production of iron was replaced by steel manufacture, which was more profitable. The natural resources needed were the same. By the 1990's only two steelworks were left in South Wales, and both of them were on the coast. The resources had run out, only one coal-mine remained working and the many small works in the valleys had closed down, causing huge social problems.

An example of one is the integrated steel works atPort Talbot. Opened in 1954, it is an integrated steelworks, which is one in which all processes of the steel making industry occur under one roof.

T he new works were integrated steel works, which imported their raw materials from abroad. These aimed to make the industry more efficient and competitive in a growing world market. Not only there is competition form other countries,but also from other materials that are increasingly being used instead of steel. Materials, such as aluminium and plastics.

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The former heavy industries ofcoalandironproduction have disappeared since the economic struggles of the 1970s, with the closures of that decade continuing sharply into the 1980s, and by July 1985 just 31 coal pits remained in the region.Further closures left the region with just one deep mine by the early 1990s,and this finally closed in January 2008, by which time it had transferred to private ownership after being sold off by theNational Coal Board.

These industries have since largely replaced byservice sectorindustries.

The cities along theM4 corridorare home to a number of high-profile blue-chip companies such asAdmiral Insurance,Legal & Generaland the Welsh basedPrincipality Building Society. A large number of telephonecall centresare located in the region and in particular in the Valleys area.Merthyr Tydfilis home to the principal UK call centre for German mobile telephone company,T-Mobile.

Many jobs are also provided in small-scale and family businesses.

Thetelevisionandfilmsectors are fast becoming a major industry in South Wales, with the development, by theBBC, of a vast dedicated production studio inNantgarw, near Pontypridd, for the highly successful DOCTOR WHOseries.

Dragon International Film Studios, a huge purpose-built studio complex located alongside theM4 motorwaybetweenBridgendandLlantrisant, contains a number of large soundstages which have already attracted the interest of a number ofHollywooddirectors and producers alike, looking for suitable facilities inEurope.Thank you for your attention!