Business
The town was successful in attracting high-tech industries, and has become home to companies such as Panasonic, Fujitsu (formerly ICL), Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens (originally Nixdorf), Honeywell, Cable and Wireless, Avnet Technology Solutions and Novell. Its success subsequently spread into the surrounding Thames Valley or M4 corridor, attracting IT firms such as Cable and Wireless, DEC (subsequently Hewlett-Packard), Microsoft, Sharp Telecommunications, Sun Microsystems and Cognos.
The Southern Industrial Area houses the head office of Waitrose. The 70-acre (280,000 m2) site which houses the Waitrose head office also houses the central distribution centre. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s. The town is also home to the UK headquarters of BMW Group
Manufacturing industry has largely disappeared since the 1980s. Former significant sites included Clifford's Dairy in Downshire Way and British Aerospace (originally Sperry Gyroscope) now occupied by Arlington Square, a 22 acre (8ha) business park of which the first stage was completed in 1995. The Thomas Lawrence brickworks on the north side of the town was famous for 'red rubber' bricks to be found in the Royal Albert Hall and Westminster Cathedral, and in restoration work at 10 Downing Street and Hampton Court Palace.
The most visible landmark in the town centre is Winchester House, formerly owned by 3M and informally known as the "3M Building", as it had the 3M logo in large illuminated red letters in a prominent place at the top of the building. It is a 12-storey structure and it can be seen from miles around. Today it stands as a decaying monument and a bad example of brutalist architecture. It used to house the company's UK headquarters before being abandoned in favour of new premises in Farley Wood on the town's northern edge in 2004 – since then, the building has had the 3M logo removed and has been heavily vandalised inside. It is currently proposed for demolition and replacement with blocks of flats The town was also the home of Racal and Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd. The Met Office maintained a large presence in the town until 2003, when it relocated to Exeter in Devon; however, the junction of the A329 and A3095 is still known as the "Met Office Roundabout" although it has been renamed "College Roundabout". Many businesses are located on the town's three industrial areas.
Read more about this topic: Bracknell
Famous quotes containing the word business:
“I have always had something to live besides a personal life. And I suspected very early that to live merely in an experience of, in an expression of, in a positive delight in the human cliches could be no business of mine.”
—Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)
“A farmer, a hunter, a soldier, a reporter, even a philosopher, may be daunted; but nothing can deter a poet, for he is actuated by pure love. Who can predict his comings and goings? His business calls him out at all hours, even when doctors sleep.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I am not going to have 2,000 condoms hanging in my window. I don’t care what it represents.”
—Sharon Zuckerbrod, U.S. business executive. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 23 (November 20, 1989)