Hi there, this is Zagdim, an information platform that focuses on overseas properties and investments.
Recently, you might have seen quite a few projects of Slough,UK in the market, therefore we collate the information of this city – Slough, hope this gives you a better picture when making your investment decisions.
本文目錄
Geographical Location of Slough
As a supply-center since 17th century when horses and boats were the means of transportation
Location is an important factor affecting the economic development of a city or even a country, and Slough is no exception. So let’s first have a look at the geographical location of Slough.
It is located in the west of Greater London, close to the M25, and it is easy to reach all districts of London through the M4 highway. M25 is the busiest highway in Britain and the most important road network in London. As we said before, the UK has very strict planning policies, especially the protection of marginal land. At present, natural green land, farmland and parks of different grades account for 94% of the total land, which is a country with relatively high greening ratio. More importantly, the whole British land is dominated by mountains, and the whole city of London is surrounded by mountains, so there are not many places for development. Slough is a rare flat land to enter London, and the only way which must be passed to enter London is through the Thames River from the northwest. Therefore, back into the middle of the 17th century, when horses and boats were still used as the means of transportation, this place has become a supply-center in and out of London.
Slough’s Economic Turnaround after World War I
The industrial parks transformed military buildings from World War I into rented factories, and then, enterprises migrated in – Creek, Ford and more.
Due to its geographical advantages, Slough’s most important turning point was in the 19th century during World War I . At that time, Britain needed a place with high security and convenient transportation to build a maintenance base. Finally, under the impetus of Churchill, the government approved the establishment of a military maintenance base in Slough on May 23rd, 1918. The maintenance base mainly receives damaged vehicles from the front line by train, and then sends them to the front line after maintenance. Although the war ended four months after the decision was made, the infrastructure has been built, which has laid the foundation for future economic development. By 1925, the British government passed the Slough Trading Company Act, which allowed the region to set up industrial parks (also the predecessor of Slough Trading Estate). The industrial parks transformed military buildings into rented factories, and at the same time, enterprises began to settle in. The more famous ones are: Creek, Ford, etc. Today, Slough Trading Estate is the most influential industrial park in Europe.
The Geo-strategic Value of Slough
Wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, information and communication, professional, scientific and technical positions, which together account for more than 50% of the total positions.
Historically, Slough has given full play to its geographical advantages, but what are its advantages? We can try to analyze from what enterprises are in Slough nowadays.
Traditional automobile maintenance, trade wholesale, transportation warehouse, and the communication equipment and data center that we need now when we enter the era of cloud data. These industries have several characteristics, such as complete transportation infrastructure, relatively close to clients, and relatively low cost. Geographically, Slough is close to the M25 highway, which can effectively utilize it to radiate to different areas. And, it is the closest to the main residential areas in West London, so setting up logistics trade, wholesale and other centers there can effectively save costs. Some friends will ask, why not set it in East London? It is mainly because the transportation there needs to cross the busiest central area of London, which will easily cause traffic congestion. Of course, East London has its own advantages. But now we’ve just given a glimpse of this and leave it blank for the time being. Let’s do a deep dive next time.
Going back to Slough, besides enterprises, we can see this feature from its numerical distribution of jobs in 2020. Wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, information and communication, professional, scientific and technical positions, which together account for more than 50% of the total positions. In terms of transportation and storage, information and communication, it is 11% higher than that of Outer London.
Slough’s Excellent Employment Conditions
An enterprise needs a clear orientation and direction to make profits. So all of them also know how to take advantage of the city – Slough.
From 2010 to 2021, the total number of enterprises in Slough increased by nearly 80%, from 3665 to 6660. The number of jobs increased, which made Slough maintain full employment. For example, in 2017, Slough’s unemployment rate was 1.4%, one-third of the UK’s average of 4.5%. Active economic activities also promote wage growth. According to the report of the British Bureau of Statistics, slough’s full-time weekly salary in 2021 was £ 735.9, an increase of 30% from 2009 to now, and the weekly salary increase rate in the UK in the same period was 22%. Because of its excellent employment conditions, it has been selected as the Best Places to Work by the job recruitment website Glassdoor for three consecutive years, which is the top 1 in UK.
Glassdoor Town & City score：4.2
Score: Recruitment Opportunity / Cost of Living / Job Satisfaction
- Vacancy: 23387
- Median of basic salary: 30,139 pounds
- Job satisfaction score: 3.4
- Median of house: 396,258
- Popular positions: Java script engineer, site manager, business analyst
Sources：THE 25 BEST UK TOWNS & CITIES TO WORK IN 2020
The Proportion of Immigrants Ranks 1 in Britain.
Big employment opportunities will naturally drive the population to enter. In the past decade, Slough’s population has increased by 10.4%, with an average annual increase of 1%, while in the same period, Britain’s population has only increased by 0.6%. And of course, it is not only local people, but also the foreign population. According to statistics, Slough’s foreign population is the largest in British towns, accounting for 39% of the total number, which is higher than that of London with a large immigrant population of 35%.
Summary
According to many studies, cities with high floating populations have a positive relationship with crime rate. For example, London, Manchester and Birmingham face the same situation. Slough, as the city with the highest proportion of immigrant population, also faces the same trouble.
Next week, I will elaborate more on the crime rate in Slough and compare it with other cities. In addition, questions for truthful answers – will a number of urban rules change the face of the community? Now, we often hear the concept of “commute town”, can it be put in Slough? What are the assumptions and conditions behind it and what impact it has on property prices? See you then.
Read this article in Chinese here
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