Age of Commercial and Industrial Stock
2004

Introduction

Information on the age of commercial and industrial property throughout England and Wales for all local authority districts has been published by the Department for Communities and Local Government using data sourced from the Valuation Office Agency.

The age (together with location and condition) of premises is an important factor in the determination of rateable values. As a building becomes older it is increasingly likely that it will require extensive conversion and modernisation if it is to remain suitable for the changing needs and expectations of its users. A large number of older industrial premises in the building stock could represent a significant problem for businesses operating in an area, not least because of the impact that occupation of older premises, sometimes in inconvenient locations and with access and loading facilities unsuited to modern freight requirements, can have on productivity potential. On a more positive note, an area with a relatively high proportion of older industrial and commercial properties might also be likely to offer greater potential for conversion to satisfy increased housing demand than an area where the industrial and commercial stock is much newer and does not lend itself so easily to conversion. The potential for conversion is also dependent upon the vacancy rate for such properties in the same area. The higher the vacancy rates the greater the opportunities for conversion (see the Research Monitor on Commercial and Industrial Property Vacancies).

Lancashire Perspective

The distribution of commercial and industrial property by broad age band is shown in Table 1. Unsurprisingly for an area that one was of the first in the country to experience large scale urban and industrial development, more than 65% of such properties in the Lancashire sub-region were built before 1940 compared with just 7% built after 1990. The proportion of pre-1940 stock locally was considerably higher than that across the wider North West Region (58%) and even more so in comparison with the England and Wales average of just 51%. Furthermore, based on evidence from a 1978 LCC industrial premises survey gathered as part of the Structure Planning process, it is highly likely that a very substantial proportion of this older pre-1940 stock was actually built before 1914.

Viewed by district the distribution of older pre-1940 properties is particularly pronounced in Blackpool but more generally, across much of East Lancashire, rising to a high of nearly 83% of the stock in Pendle District, for example, representing one of the highest proportions of any district in England and Wales (Figure 1). The immediate post-war period saw comparatively little industrial and commercial building in Lancashire but after about 1960 there was substantial construction throughout the sub-region as new industrial estates and out-of-town commercial centres were developed and old industrial areas were redeveloped. The New Towns programmes in Central Lancashire and Skelmersdale in particular had a marked impact in South Ribble and West Lancashire, both of which today have the youngest property age profiles. Outside the New Town areas, the proportion of newer buildings is also relatively high in Wyre.

Figure 2 shows how the age distribution of the stock in Lancashire varies between the four bulk classes where the age is known. Across all classes, the age of the stock in Lancashire is generally older than the England and Wales average.

• The retail stock is older, with 77% of all retail hereditaments built before 1940 (compared with around two-thirds in England and Wales). Less than 1% of hereditaments were built in 2001-03. Roughly the same amount of retail stock was built in each of the three decades 1971-2000, each decade accounting for around 4% of the total stock.
• Offices also have a relatively high proportion of older build with 62% of properties built before 1940 (compared with about half in England and Wales). However, the proportion of offices built after 1990 is the highest out of the four bulk classes.
• Factories and warehouses have very similar profiles in terms of the number of hereditaments. More than a half (compared with a third in England and Wales) were built before 1940, with about 9% built after 1990.

Floorspace by Age Band

A further perspective on the age of the commercial and industrial stock is given by the actual floorspace within each of the age bands (Table 2 and Figure 3). In most instances the age distribution of floorspace is more evenly spread than the comparable distribution for hereditaments simply through the fact that newer buildings tend to be much larger on average (e.g. an old "corner shop" compared with a modern retail outlet). Aside from this, a similar pattern emerges with Lancashire having proportionately a much larger share of its floorspace in the older age bands than either the North West or the England and Wales averages. Of perhaps particular note in this respect is Pendle District that has the largest proportion of older floorspace (i.e. pre-1940) of any local district in the whole of England and Wales with over three-quarters of all its floorspace built in this period. Around 82% of Pendle's factory floorspace was built before 1940. It was also the district with the highest proportion of warehouse floorspace built in this period.