Dunlop Semtex rubber factory, Brynmawr

Vault of the surviving, and Grade II* listed, boiler house

The Brynmawr Rubber Factory was a notable building situated in Brynmawr in Wales. It was designed between 1946 and 1951 by The Architect's Co-Op, a group of Architecture students from the AA in London, in collaboration with engineer Ove Arup.

It was built for the Brimsdown Rubber Company to produce various products (mainly tyres) and is considered by many as a Modernist icon and as an exemplar of 'Festival of Britain' period architecture.[1]

The main production floor was spanned by nine huge concrete shell domes which were punctuated by circular rooflights. Some of the outer sections of the factory were roofed with concrete barrel vaulted shells.

The building was perhaps too ambitious and it was never a commercial success. In 1952, it was sold to Dunlop and used for manufacturing vinyl flooring known as Semtex.

The factory was made a Grade II* listed building by the Welsh Office in 1985, the first building to date from after World War II to be listed anywhere in England or Wales.[2] Despite being a listed building, it was demolished in 2001.[3]

Concrete viaduct once bringing coal wagons directly into the boiler house

The boiler house of the Semtex factory still remains, albeit in a derelict condition.[4] On Monday 12th January 2015, the chimney joined to the boiler house was forced crashing down by strong winds causing power cuts around the town.

References

  1. ↑ "Dunlop Semtex Rubber Factory". Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. NPRN 41229.
  2. ↑ David Baker and Gail Chitty, Managing Historic Sites and Buildings: Reconciling Presentation and Preservation, p.159
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Dunlop Semtex Rubber Factory: Boiler House". Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. NPRN 41230.

Further reading

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Coordinates: 51°47′42″N 3°10′34″W / 51.795°N 3.176°W / 51.795; -3.176


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