M4 Corridor

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The M4 corridor is the area adjacent to the M4 motorway. Its eastern end in particular is home to a large number of businesses, particularly in Berkshire and the Thames Valley. For this reason this part of the M4 Corridor is sometimes described as the United Kingdom's Silicon Valley. Often the term 'M4 Corridor' is used to denote only the far Eastern part roughly from Swindon to London.

Companies which have offices along the M4 include Cisco, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and MCI. As with many motorways, companies are attracted to the location because of the ease of travel, this is true of the M4 especially because of the motoway's proximity to London and Heathrow Airport which is also alongside the M4.

Investment has gradually spread westwards since the 1980s. Further west the interchange of the M4 motorway and M5 motorway near Bristol had seen considerable by the mid 1990s, where for example with the headquarters of Orange is located. Indeed by the end of the 1990s there were even signs of investment into South Wales, whose economy had suffered badly during the 1980s. The Celtic Manor Resort located near the M4 near Newport has undergone significant investment will Host the 2010 Ryder Cup. The 1990s also saw significant investment in Cardiff such as in Cardiff Gate and the Cardiff Bay area.

Since the start of the 21st Century there has been some evidence of investment West of Cardiff also, such as the SA1 development in Swansea.

Despite recent development the M4 Corridor still has within it some of the poorest areas in Western Europe as well as the Wealthiest.

Locations

Apart from London which is at the end of the M4 motorway, Staines, Slough, Windsor, Reading, and Newbury are the main towns in the Berkshire stretch of the M4, and this area forms the most popular location for businesses in the M4 corridor. Reading is home to many of the businesses (such as Microsoft and MCI) whilst Vodafone is located in Newbury and O2 plc is in Slough. The M4 also passes the town of Swindon and the cities of Bath and Bristol before continuing into Wales and the cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.

The M4/M25 junction is the UK's largest motorway interchange.

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