Brynmawr rubber factory

[1] The building's engineer, Ove Arup, later worked on the Sydney Opera House, and the design of Brynmawr is credited as a partial inspiration for that project.

The main working area was covered with a concrete roof consisting of nine domes,[2] with circular windows providing light to the factory floor.

[4] The Welsh Valleys, and Brynmawr in particular, suffered a major downturn during the Great Depression, as coal mines were closed as unprofitable, leaving around 80% of the town's workforce unemployed by the end of the 1930s.

[5] During this period the industrialist Lord James Forrester spent time in the town as part of the Brynmawr Experiment, a project run by the Quakers to promote small-scale industries.

[7] The cost of the project's construction and lack of commercial viability, with the factory operating at only one-quarter capacity, caused Enfield Cables to withdraw financial support in May 1952.

Dunlop Semtex tried to sell the factory, but no potential buyers with sufficient finance emerged, and the site was put into receivership.

[9] In 1995, an application was made to Blaenau Gwent council for a new development at the site, involving demolition of the main factory building.

[8] They authorised the demolition in 1996, despite objections from the Twentieth Century Society and Welsh Heritage, and alternative proposals including sports halls, cultural centres and a museum.

[2] After demolition, a number of four-bedroom homes were built on the site in the subsequent years as well as an Asda superstore development and associated leisure facilities.