Welcome to Isembard, a factory in London's Zone 3

We are manufacturing components for defence, energy, and aerospace. Small, smart facilities like these are a glimpse of the future

Dear SoTA,

For the first time in decades, the UK is building factories again. Not the vast, sprawling plants of the Industrial Revolution, but something different — smaller, smarter, driven by software and intelligence, capable of out-competing with the best in the world.

Last week, we opened our first Isembard factory: 2,000 square feet, high-precision machines, a team of engineers, and Mason OS—our proprietary manufacturing intelligence system. We’re in Park Royal, in London’s Zone 3. It’s a small start, but history tells us that great industrial movements often begin this way. In 1771, Richard Arkwright’s first water-powered textile mill had just 200 workers. In 1913, Henry Ford’s first assembly line was only 150 feet long. Yet these were the sparks that lit industrial revolutions.

We are in the midst of another transformation. The past 40 years saw Britain shed nearly half its manufacturing base. In 1980, manufacturing was 25% of UK GDP; today, it is just 9%. The UK imports 80% of its semiconductors, 60% of its steel, and almost all of its precision components for aerospace and defence. While Germany runs a €200bn manufacturing surplus, the UK runs a £160bn deficit.

This is unsustainable. Nations that cannot produce will not remain prosperous. The global supply chain is fracturing under the weight of geopolitics, and software is about to disrupt white-collar work just as automation once did for a large amount of factory labour. Countries that lack industrial depth will struggle to adapt.

Isembard exists to change this. Our first factory is a prototype —not just for a single machine shop, but for a new kind of industrial network where standardised, software-driven factories can be rapidly deployed across the UK, Europe, and North America. Every site will be optimized with Mason OS, a system designed to increase throughput, minimize waste, and integrate robotics from prototyping to production.

We are starting with critical industries: defence, energy, and aerospace. These are the sectors where precision matters, where supply chains are fragile, and where Western nations can no longer afford dependence on distant manufacturers.

Some will say this vision is too ambitious. But Britain’s industrial history is full of sceptics proven wrong. In the 1830s, the London-to-Bristol railway was declared impossible—until Brunel built it. In the 1940s, a jet-powered fighter was deemed unworkable— until Frank Whittle’s engine changed aviation forever. The past is a lesson, the future is our canvas.

This is the start of a new chapter. We are hiring. We are building. We are looking for those who see what we see — that manufacturing is not dead, it has simply been waiting for reinvention.

Best

Alexander Fitzgerald

Founder & CEO, Isembard