Jobs in Swindon | Pictures of Swindon

Located alongside the M4, mid-way between Bristol and London is Swindon, a town whose population has more than doubled over the last fifty years, whereas the population of England has only increased by 20 per cent. Despite only having a population of around 155,000, Swindon tops the league of the UK’s 50 largest towns and cities for the biggest growth in the number of new businesses.

Indeed, it is estimated that 11 new businesses are set up in Swindon for every 10,000 residents. Added to this is the fact that average earnings here are 9.4 per cent higher than the South West regional average, thereby making the town one of the most competitive economies in the country.

The current economy is highly competitive and continued expansion in terms of population, employment and housing is anticipated over the next few years.

Then and now
Swindon happily passed through history undisturbed and relatively unremarkably as a small market village bartering in all manner of ware. But its fortunes dramatically changed during a particular thirty year period. In 1810 the Wiltshire & Berkshire canal was constructed, which placed Swindon on one of the new major trading routes between what is now the M4 corridor towards London. Then in 1840, Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose the town as the site for the railworks for the soon to be constructed Great Western Railway.

Both of these developments saw the rapid development of a thriving engineering and manufacturing industry that catapulted Swindon into the echelons of leading commercial centres in the country. And with over 500 businesses generating over £3.5bn a year in Swindon, this position continues.

Today, Swindon continues to be a thriving industrial and commercial centre with a number of large multi-national manufacturing businesses choosing to locate their UK operations in the area. Indeed, 4 out of the top 10 employers in Swindon are based in the manufacturing sector, primarily in the field of automotives. BMW Group employs 3,000 people, whereas Catalent and Tyco Electronics UK provide work for around 2,800 people between them. However, by far the biggest employer in Swindon is Honda UK.

While Honda blossomed in Swindon, Swindon blossomed thanks to Honda. Employing over 5,000 people at its production plant at South Marston, Honda’s strength is in marked contrast to the workers at the old pressed Steel plant who might have been excused for being less optimistic about their own futures again as Rover was bought by BMW, only to be quickly sold again and forced out of business altogether.

The financial sector is another key driver in Swindon and has long continued to be one of the largest contributors to the economic output in Wiltshire and Swindon. Insurance and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society and Zurich Financial Services provide work for 2,500 and 1,000 people respectively.

Swindon has been a unitary authority since 1997 which effectively means that it is independent of Wiltshire county and has control and responsibility over its own administrative affairs which, be default, indicates that the public sector’s influence on the local employment market is significant. Indeed, the fields of education and health in particular now fall under the remit of Swindon itself, with the Great Western Hospital employing over 3,000 staff alone to make it the third largest employer in the region, whilst Swindon College props up the top ten employers list, providing jobs for around 2,000 people.

Other major employers include science research councils and pharmaceutical companies such as Canada's Patheon and the US-based Cardinal Health, who have their UK divisions headquartered in the town. As well as the British Computer Society, Castol, WHSmiths Distribution, RWE nPower, Motorola and the head office of Alcatel-Lucent Technologies – combined these companies employ over 10,000 people.

Key business districts
There are a number of business parks throughout the Swindon area. However, the main districts are Kembrey Park (billed as one of the UK's most successful business centres and home to around 50 organisations in the service and manufacturing sectors), Ergo Business Park, Gemini Business Park and Windmill Hill Business Park – home to the likes of Cable & Wireless and Lucent Technologies.

If you're thinking of moving to the area, take a look at some of the current property available to buy or let in Swindon.

Take a closer look
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can see some images from in and around Swindon below.

Looking for local vacancies? See all current jobs in Swindon or find out more information on the local area.