Post War Prefabs, Cheltenham September 2010 - Part one

Post war prefabs

As the title implies, this is a two part report. I have to be honest when I say that I have struggled a little with this subject. Architecturally, the prefabs are not of great interest. However, they are of historical importance, because they were originally a temporary solution to housing shortages after the second world war, but have lasted for generations. These particular prefabs are some of the few existing communities like this in Cheltenham and are due for demolition.

The original foundations of these prefabs can be found on a 1945 version of a Google Earth street view map. I have not specified the exact location of the prefabs, because there are still families living in this now diminished community. They should be allowed to enjoy the rest of the time they have there, in peace. There are plans to redevelop the area with a new housing development, residents have gradually moved out in preparation for this. Since the credit crunch, it has been difficult to obtain morgages or secured loans on most non standard construction properties.

Prefabricated Housing was a concept envisioned by Winston Churchill, and was outlined in The Temporary Accommodation Act of 1944, to address the United Kingdom's post war housing shortages. He proposed to address the need for the 200.000 shortfall in housing stock, by building 500,000 prefabs with a lifespan of up to 10 years. The scheme got off to a good start, but proved to be too costly, they were more expensive to build than conventional houses. In the end only 156,623 prefabs were constructed.
Source - Wikipedia. For a more in depth history of prefabs see the Wikipedia article entitled British Post War temporary prefab houses.

This report has not really been able convey, the sense of community that was forged, during the years these prefabs have existed.. The residents that still live here, have well maintained comfortable homes and obviously take pride in them. I am grateful for the help of the couple that allowed me to traipse through their well cared for property, so that I could take some photographs. I would also like to thank them for their invaluable information regarding part two of this report. I would also like to thank my good friend PJ for his advice and technical help – without his assistance, there would be no report.





















From humble beginnings, these temporary dwellings became homes, became communities.

It's interesting to see these pre-fabs in this condition with a pebble-dash finish. There are some in Dulwich in South London that are far more original than the ones in the pics on this post. There are several more sites around London but unfortunately I have no photos.

There's some in Catford as featured in How We Built Britain.

At least until the 1980s there were some in Stalybridge, not sure if they are still there.

There used to be a a whole load at Harwell for the people who worked there but they were demolished to make way for new housing which still has not been built. There were also a few more down one of the roads in Didcot but again they have gone. Being the historical significance of that particular type of house it is a wonder some have not been preserved some where.

Half of the Barton estate in Oxford is made up of post-war Pre-fab houses which were only supposed to last a few years, and almost all are still standing and occupied.

Fab report there, Mshegs. Enjoyed reading your write-up. As you said, not an easy subject to show aesthetically, but historically very interesting. Good stuff.

There's some 1920s pre-fabs at the Black Country Museum, which used thick steel plates for the walls.

They were originally put up somewhere in Dudley & moved for preservation.

Up until 3 years ago there were a couple of thousand pre-fabs in Bristol but the council has recently evicted everyone and now various sheltered housing companies are building flats which I suspect won't be much better than what they're replacing, but a lot more expensive to rent.

Pre-fabs actually had a lot of thought and technology put into them which is part of the reason they have withstood the test of time.

mookster said:

Half of the Barton estate in Oxford is made up of post-war Pre-fab houses which were only supposed to last a few years, and almost all are still standing and occupied.

Click to expand...

Now that is a place to avoid like the plague

night crawler said:

There used to be a a whole load at Harwell for the people who worked there but they were demolished to make way for new housing which still has not been built. There were also a few more down one of the roads in Didcot but again they have gone. Being the historical significance of that particular type of house it is a wonder some have not been preserved some where.

Click to expand...

Apparently there is only one listed Prefab in Britain, it's in Moseley in Birningham. I have also discovered that there are 30 prefabs in Redditch which are going to be preserved, they were constructed from aluminium taken from decommissioned Second World war aircraft. Mind you, the article that I was reading was from 2003! I hope they have been preserved.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback.

RAF Chenies Radar station is a big pre-fab building, the only one of it's kind left in the country and listing was refused because it was a pre-fabricated structure.

Mshegs said:

...I have also discovered that there are 30 prefabs in Redditch which are going to be preserved, they were constructed from aluminium taken from decommissioned Second World war aircraft...

Click to expand...

Brilliant! I just had a google for those, as I lived just outside Redditch when young and one of my schoolfriends lived in a pre-fab. The one shown is like the one she lived in.

St Fagans: National History Museum outside of Cardiff has a preserved pre-fab too.

There's loads in Scunthorpe still. My Dad grew up in one and my Nan's sister still lives in hers! They're pretty tight inside.