ABSTRACT
Low unemployment and interest rates, changing industrial processes, new technology and new ways of working have all combined to require a reconsideration by both public and private sector agencies involved in the production of industrial and business development properties in respect of what they build, where and for whom. The 1980s witnessed a transformation in both the location and property requirements of modern industries because of the decline in traditional manufacturing and the growth in the service sector. The 1990s saw globalization and radical changes in information and communication technology. In the new millennium we are seeing a continued contraction of the manufacturing sector, the increasing dominance of the service sector, and major advances in the integration of information and communication technology in the manufacture, assembly, storage, sale and delivery of goods and services. Table 18.1 illustrates these changes in terms of employment in each industry sector between 1997 and 2007, and Table 18.2 demonstrates the dominance of the services sector in terms of contribution to UK GDP in the first seven years of the 2000s.
