Midlands Manufacturing Heritage Disappears

As redevelopment of Longbridge continues, another historic car and van production site in the north east of Birmingham – the Drews Lane complex – has been consigned to the history books.

Nine years after LDV vanmanufacture ended atWashwood Heath in Birmingham, a new use has been found for the Drews Lane complex housing the Ward End works – former home to Wolseley and LDV. Sold to the government, the site is to become a major maintenance and servicing facility for the new HS2 rail link.

Owner St Modwen – which also holds the lease to the historic Austin/MG Rover/MG Motor UK Longbridge site – struggled to find a use for the old factory, despite optimistic reports in the local press in 2013.

While the land around Longbridge has been redeveloped into a shopping centre and sixth form college, Ward End, despite a new Tarmac depot arriving in 2016, has not seen any further activity since the ex-factory buildings were flattened for remodelling three years prior. When the site was cleared, signs advertising ‘design and build’ and ‘short term open storage land, 1-22 acres available’ on Wolseley Drive were in situ for several years without attracting any real interest.