Bata Industrial Building Number 12

Building 12 of the former British Bata site at East Tilbury, designed by F L Gahura (1891–1958) and V Karfik (1901–1996) for the Bata Shoe Company of Zlin in the International Modern Movement style, and built in January 1933. The main contractors were Walsham Ltd, with welding and erection work carried out by Gravesend Welding and Electrical Engineering Works Ltd.

The building is constructed of welded steel columns and roof trusses with diagonal struts, combined with reinforced concrete walls. It is a single storey structure measuring 262 feet long and 62 feet wide, with a lower five-bay range to the west.

The exterior features welded Crittall sash side lights or 12-pane windows, with 8-pane windows in the west range. The roof comprises two shallow V-shaped sections. A brick-built porch has been added to the north elevation.

The Bata Shoe Company identified the East Tilbury riverside as a suitable location for developing both a shoe factory and a purpose-built settlement between the 1930s and 1960s. The company, founded by Thomas Bata, grew from modest origins in the inter-war years to become one of the world's largest shoe manufacturers and retailers. By the 1930s, it operated a global empire coordinating all aspects of shoe manufacture from its headquarters at Zlin, with manufacturing sites in Holland, India, and at East Tilbury (British Bata), established in 1933. Gahura and Karfik, both trained by Le Corbusier and in Karfik's case also by Frank Lloyd Wright, had developed a consistent International Modern Movement architectural design for Bata sites worldwide by the early 1930s.

The East Tilbury plant functioned as both producer and distributor, primarily manufacturing rubber and leather footwear. Following the first factory buildings including Building 12 in January 1933, a leather factory and domestic housing were constructed in 1934. Between 1936 and 1938, a second leather and rubber factory, garage, and social facilities were built. Although the Second World War slowed development, the site continued to expand into the 1960s.

Building 12 is among the earliest surviving examples of welded-steel construction in the country and represents one of the earliest and least altered factory buildings on the internationally significant British Bata site.