Catalogue description Board of Trade: Factory and Storage Premises Control: Records

During the Second World War bombing and the need to remove industries and stocks of food from the ports created a demand for inland premises. The Factory and Storage Premises Control was set up to allocate factory and storage premises for Government Departments and to control their acquisition by private firms.

The object of the control was to ensure that the national resources in premises were employed to the fullest advantage and that new building was reduced to a minimum. Its authority over private firms was based on the Location of Industry (Restriction) Order, July 1941 and by a Cabinet decision the same control procedures were applied also to government premises.

The control set up a register of all factories where space was likely to be available. Factories employing less than ten persons were left out as unlikely to yield useful premises; and essential war industries such as engineering and iron and steel were not included as it was assumed that these were fully employed.

In addition the control undertook the work of guiding new production into suitable areas where premises were available and collated the information regarding the supply of labour, billeting facilities, gas and electric power, coal, transport, etc. from the various government departments concerned. Premises in areas where the demand for labour outstripped supply were used for storage purposes.