‘Prefabs’ were temporary homes built in the factory at the close of the Second World War.
They were built to rehouse those who had lost their homes during the Blitz or servicemen returning from the war and their young families. More than 156,000 were erected all over the country in 1946 and 1947.
1. They were not slums
To some people, prefabs were and still are synonymous with tin boxes, cardboard houses or slums. Well, they are wrong!
Prefabs were planned as early as 1942, three years before the end of the Second World War and in March 1944, when D-Day hadn’t even happened, Winston Churchill declared in a speech:
‘The first attack must evidently be made upon houses which are damaged, but which can be reconditioned into proper dwellings… the second attack on the housing problem will be made by what are called the prefabricated, or emergency, houses.’
In 1942, Churchill’s government created the Burt Committee named after Sir George Burt. Its aim was to come up with a quick, efficient and modern answer to the looming housing crisis.
The Burt Committee took inspiration from the USA, especially from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which had very advanced and modern temporary prefabricated houses for the workers and their families who were working on huge dam construction projects.
They devised an ideal floor plan of a one-storey bungalow with two bedrooms, inside toilets, a fitted kitchen, a bathroom and a living room. The prefabs would be detached houses surrounded by a garden to encourage dwellers to grow fruit and vegetables and would have a coal shed. The Temporary Housing Programme was born.
2. More modern than modernity
The public was impressed. Many people who lived in big cities like London, which had been heavily bombed, lived in shared flats or houses with outside toilets and no hot water.
Suddenly they discovered little houses with all the mod cons, which also enjoyed a lot of light and offered the possibility of having a garden all around. Young families from working-class backgrounds would have the opportunity to live in a detached house with a fitted kitchen and a fridge!
The kitchen and heating system were a piece of brilliant engineering: the kitchen and the bathroom came in one part with a wall in between, which contained the piping for both rooms. Some prefabs had flat roofs, an architectural style people were not used to, and some had wrap-around corner windows that allowed the living room to enjoy as much light as possible.
Not only was the inside design well considered, but the way they were erected was also clever.
While some were only filling in bomb sites between traditional houses, most of the 156,000 prefabs were laid out on estates, some reaching more than 1,200 units, like Belle Vale in Liverpool. The prefab estates had footpaths and greens, and children could play outside – most people knew each other, so everyone felt safe and cared for.
3. They created a strong sense of community
The Temporary Housing Programme worked as a social scheme. Priority was given to families with young children or to servicemen and their families, creating strong communities.
Most people were from the same generation, with working-class backgrounds, raising young children. They were all starting afresh with exactly the same type of house. No wonder the prefabs lasted many more years than they were supposed to. Some people still live in prefabs, some 70 years after they were built, which had an assumed lifetime of just ten years.
4. There were prefabs all over the world
The UK was not the only country to use prefabs as a temporary solution to house people after the war.
France did, too: more than 150,000 temporary houses were built mainly in Brittany, Normandy and Hauts de France – the regions that had most suffered from allied bombing during and after D-Day. In France, although there were French wooden types of prefabs, most of the emergency houses were imported from Sweden, the USA, Finland, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.
Other countries that suffered from the war, like Germany, the USSR, Belgium and Japan, used prefabrication too.
Some UK prefabs had a second life and were sent to other countries like Egypt and the colonies. So keep your eyes open wherever you are in the world.
5. Some prefabs became permanent housing – and even museums
People loved prefabs so much that they fought to save them, while local authorities wanted to replace them with permanent and more profitable dwellings with a higher density.
Some campaigns succeeded, but most failed. Another way to save them was to buy them through the Right to Buy scheme. From the 1990s, architects and urbanists started to recognise the historical value of prefabs. Historic England began to list some that were best preserved. Today 17 are listed in Birmingham and six in Catford, South London.
Some museums also looked at prefabs as valuable and interesting pieces for their collections. There are six museums in the UK where you can see a prefab: a Tarran type at the Eden Camp in Yorkshire, an Arcon MK 5 at the Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove, another Arcon MK 5 at the Rural Life Centre in Farnham, a Universal at the Chiltern Air Museum, an AIROH at the Wales Museum in Cardiff and a Uni-Seco at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
Reblogged this on keithbracey and commented:
#Birmingham had many fine examples of prefab housing but like another utilitarian form of Brummie housing the back to back housing of courts built for the Industrial workers of a growing city Birmingham’ s prefab only have one example left in Wake Green Road on the border between Moseley and Hall Green which is now a museum
Reading about the prefabs we have plenty in Doncaster South Yorkshire, I worked inside them as a care worker and found the layout very good for family on 4. Weston Rd Doncaster still standing
There are several left on Wake Green Road.
My aunt had one in Blackburn – so cosy. By the way it’s the Chiltern Open Air Museum.
There is a prefab at the Trolley Bus Museum Sandtoft near Doncaster.
There are some Swedish houses in Sussex – donated by the Swedish government in late 40s and still lived in ….
I remember seeing a photograph of a soldier returning home to his wife and child at the door of a prefab. It is in the Museum of London.
I was born in the prefab in 1952)hockwell ring Luton Bedfordshire
They were great wee houses. With an efficient and economical central heating system operated from a stove in the living room. Then along came unenlightened local authorities who decreed smokeless zones, all heating by standard electric fires. Suddenly there were problems of condensation and inability to keep the prefab warm. That was their death knell.
I was wondering how they were heated as I noticed they don’t seem to have had chimneys. I visited a family who lived in one in Wales in the 1990s. I suppose those houses are now demolished. I remember it being rather spacious inside. Such a shame that most are now gone as they are cute and cottagey looking.
My first five years of life was living in a prefab, and looking back, they were the most modern houses going, inside toilets and a bathroom in 1950 shear luxury and modern kitchen with gas fridge and ironing board that folded out of a cupboard, great days and a great community around you
We could do with them today. They are cost effective and not a political pawn to be obsessed with owning property,to pander to capialism.
Totally agree John! The wartime government were so much more proactive and practical unlike what we have today,
I remember there being a prefab estate in Taunton when I was a child there in the 1960’s/70’s. I only have a vague memory of where it was but I do remember my Mum using them as a reference point as in “by the prefabs” or “walk through the prefabs”. They have fascinated me ever since, so that’s my Christmas present sorted !
The Somerset Historic Environment Record (HER) lists 5 “prefab” estates in Taunton.
Visit http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk and search for ‘prefab’’ .
The HER has excellent on-line mapping and also RAF post WW2 air photos showing these sites together with information about each prefab estate.
There is also a mass of info about other historic Taunton sites and sites within the modern County i of Somerset on this brilliant website!
I lived in one as a child growing up in Wales I’d live in one today if they were built now
My family lived in a Prefab from 1952 / 54
103 North Parkway
Seacroft
Leeds
West Yorkshire
I remember spending some happy times as a child living in the prefab.
We had a large garden.
I remember the beck down the road where we would play sometimes catch fish tadpoles and small frogs.
My father took them back to the beck at a later date.
The prefabs were all demolished.
I do not know when the prefabs were demolished as we moved to another area of Leeds.
Some were still standing in the 60’s in the east end of london when my aunt got married. She loved it so much she wouldn’t move when the local authority decided they had to be demolished. She fought so hard to stay, lovely community, lovely house with a big garden.
Interesting article, thank you! It’s a shame nothing was mentioned about the use of asbestos containing materials in prefabs.
asbestos was used in the majority of buildings including railways and shipping,so nothing unusual there, In fact there were a lot of aluminium prefabs using all-sorts of materials such as clay pipes bitch pipes. All in all the pre-fabs was very modern and still last today as i still live in an aluminium one asbestos free lead paint free and further to the future the designs are still being used today for modern prefabs. Scunthorpe recognised that the prefabs took very little maintenance and they were very profitable to the council.
That’s great Richard. Hope you are still living in it.
I lived in a prefab at Greenhill Close, Ormsgill, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria from 1954 aged 3 for 20 years and absolutely loved it! 😊
It is really such an interesting article. I learnt a lot about the prefabs. However, I never stayed at the prefabs but now I am looking forward towards it. I really liked your post hope to see more in the future ahead. I have seen similar information at one place, you can also see on Dashbuildnz.com.
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I have been living in a post war prefab since 2004, it is capacious, like a tardis inside, I still have not worked out how the Social Housing Trust that owned it until recently managed to get away with putting cladding on the outside, as I had been told these bungalows were listed as ‘ buildings of historical interest ‘, you wouldn’t know that now.
Richard Sellars.
Putting cladding on the prefabs is usually done on grants to council to improve the heating to save the climate but as you rightly say if they are of historical interest it is far easier for a Council etc to pull them down stating that they are so far removed from original that they no longer hold historical interest. So realistically the only chance of saving is private ownership and hope to fight compulsory purchase orders. The modern usage of most prefabs today are for elderly and disabled as they are so easy to convert with wide doors and wet rooms. This is usually done by builders with no concept of the Prefab following standard building codes which can unfortunately effect the stability of the structure. In my case every nut bolt and nail used was made from your surplus wartime bombers years after the war. Unfortunately all pre-fabs get tared with the same brush and get classed as pre war or wartime by Surveyors to lazy to look into the actual building date of 1950-51 and any rebuilds carried out to extend the anticipated life in my prefab 60+ years. Mine has had 5 substantial refits/rebuilds to carry it forward for another sixty years.
I used to live in a prefab at Clough road, Liverpool . Great memories and happy life , miss those days.
i am just about to buy an Arcon prefab in Westcott Surrey it is a semi detatched bungalow It had concrete treatment fifteen years ago by specialist builders in Bath They are still trading, Guarantee for 25 years.Anything I should be wary of?
i was brought up in a prefab 1957/1965 was great we lived in shrublands estate gorleston norfolk we had loads of play areas consisting of large grassed areas large front and rear gardens drive for our car and visitors my dad was a drummer in ww2 i lost my mum when i was 9 my dad filled my life with music i mean the shadows burt weedon etc i was and am a guitarist in our prefab 7 erica way gorleston there were many people visited us some have gone on to be quite famous some fell by the wayside there is so much to tell all owed to a close community prefab estate want to know more contact me otterway@rocketmail .com
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I was born in 1947 at 9 Ector road – Catford Excalibur estate. I lived there until I was 10.
Informative post! Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.
I feel so very sad. I lived in a prefab in Bridge Avenue, Cookham, Berkshire until 1977 when they were demolished. I can’t find any proof of them even being there which just fills my heart with tears… and yet those years were amongst the happiest of my life. I think we were the poor relations and blotted from history! Still, all 16 families were a great community. Happy days! Linda Elliott
I remember them! Vaguely… My childminder lived in one.
I’ve forgotten her name, but I think her daughter might’ve been Paula?
I was only 3 or 4 so it’s all rather hazy!
I remember it!
My childminder lived there, Mrs Fuller.
It fascinated me as a child.
I lived in a prefab from 1968 till about 1975. The layout was good but all the insulation had perished so it got cold quickly and if you didn’t keep a window open the walls ran with condensation. When we were moving in we shut the kitten in the bathroom but she kept appearing in the kitchen, she found her way through the back of the airing cupboard and out through another gap at the back of the kitchen sink I think.
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I lived in a prefab in Lymm, Cheshire from when I was two months old [1946] to when I was fifteen. I lived with my parents and my older sister and my dad worked at the local Gas Works for a while. All he had to do was go through the back garden across the Allotments and he was at work! They were lovely little homes, we had a fridge and a wash boiler in the kitchen, both ran on gas. There was a separate toilet and plenty of cupboards . They are all gone now of course and they built a housing estate on the land. So many happy memories of my childhood.