In 1994, The Steam Factory, now under the sole Artistic Direction of Phil Willmott, took over the management of the Finborough Theatre and changed its name to The Steam Industry.

From it's new base it built up a strong reputation in London both for high-quality new plays at the Finborough and for stylish and successful populist work off-West End including Cy Coleman's Sweet Charity (Man in the Moon and BAC 1993/94), the record-breaking runs of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music and The King and I, and the Hollywood musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, all Time Out Critics Choices, (BAC 1997-1999), Patti Boulaye and Peter Polycarpou in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (Drill Hall 1996), the London premiere of the Hollywood musical Calamity Jane (BAC 1994), Phil Willmott's Venom (1995), Adam Ant, Sylvester McCoy, Aimi MacDonald and Sylvester McCoy in Joe Orton's Funeral Games (1996) and Dick Daredevil (1996), all at The Drill Hall, Ring Round the Moon (King's Head Theatre 2000) and Phil Willmott's adaptation of Dracula (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and revived twice at BAC 1995).

The Steam Industry has attracted critical and commercial success for their seasons of linked work including Dangerous States (1994) including Illyria, a version of Twelfth Night, and The Oedipus Table from Sophocles; New Writing (1995) which included Watch Out for Mr Stork by Diane Samuels, Function of the Orgasm by Tom Smith, Mark Ravenhill's production of the Chinese Yuan plays, Tales of Love and Justice; States of the Nation (1996 - 97) featuring David Eldridge's A Week with Tony, Tony Marchant's The Fundraisers, starring Tom Watt, Simon Warne's Double Effect, and Chris Lee's The Optimist's Daughters; Teachers on Trial (1997) which presented a classic play - Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind at the BAC, and Paul Jepson's production the new play Teenage Vitriol at the Finborough; the discipline; season (1998) including Phil Willmott's production of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment which smashed all box office records, Caryl Churchill's Softcops, Example: The Case of Craig and Bentley and Cells, a season of specially commissioned new plays; the TheatreCanada season presenting some of the best of contemporary Canadian drama including Michael Lewis MacLennan's sward-winning Grace; and the Autumn 2000 London Season featuring six plays about the capital.

The Finborough Theatre was awarded a Guinness Theatre Ingenuity Award for two years running in 1996 and 1997. This enabled the Steam Industry to collaborate with the Royal National Theatre Studio on developing two new musicals, including one with Don Black, lyricist of Sunset Boulevard, Aspects of Love and Billy, and to host a season of new plays presented by The Red Room for three months in 1997 with productions of Lisa Perrotti's Tucson, Robert Young's Surfing and Anthony Neilson's The Censor which transferred directly to the Royal Court from the Finborough. The theatre was also shortlisted for the 1998 and 2005 Peter Brook Award for the Finborough's dynamic programming, and was the recipient of a Playwright in Residence, Chris Lee, under the Pearson Playwright's Scheme.

Notable Steam Industry productions at the Finborough Theatre include The Steam Industry's production of Howard Goodall and Melvyn Bragg's musical The Hired Man, directed by Tom Barrie, and Phil Willmott's production of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and 25th anniversary production of Trelawney of the "Wells"

The Steam Industry's new writing development successes include Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking (Out of Joint, West End and an international tour), Naomi Wallace's Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), Rachael McGill and David Eldridge's Serving It Up (The Bush). Recent productions include the work of Tony Marchant (BBC's Holding On, October 1997) and Chris Lee (The Abbey, Dublin's The Electrocution of Children, April 1998).