South Ockendon
South Ockendon is a town and also Church of England parish in the Thurrock borough and unitary area in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It lies on the border with Greater London, simply outside the M25 motorway. The area to the north is North Ockendon. South Ockendon village became a location for prefabricated residences (prefabs) fitting bombed-out citizens of East London/West Essex in the extremely late 40s. Much of the original post-war building was carried out by former German prisoners of war. Most of these were destroyed in the late-1960s when a large Greater London Council estate, Lecaplan "concrete" building and construction houses-- the Flowers' Estate-- was developed to replace them, again with pre-fabricated dwellings, albeit of a remarkable layout. The Lecaplan Kind B kind of pre-cast concrete (large panel concrete) balcony is constructed in rows of eight buildings to a design by J C Tilley and manufactured by W. & C. French. In the 1970s the Ford Motor Company factory at Aveley housed Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations which developed cars and trucks such as the RS1600. The plant was wound down gradually from the late 90's however closed completely in 2004, when the last 150 tasks were shed. Most of the 150 workers approved transfers to various other Ford or supplementary websites around Essex. The 'Aveley' plant was positioned along and west of the railway line, adjacent to Ockendon station in the Belhus Ward that part of Ockendon has now been become new real estate estates, with road names after famous Ford lorries in keeping with the sites history.
