Prefabs: A History of the UK Temporary Housing Programme

by Brenda Vale

The book looks at the emergence of the prefab as a unique housing form. It examines the reasons the prefabs have survived way beyond their design life of fifteen years, when other post-war housing types have been demolished. There is no other single text that sets the temporary housing programme in context.

Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Norman Fellows]

"Originally published in 1995, this book unravels the history of the ‘temporary bungalow’ and shows that perhaps it was more a question of providing a new peace-time product for factories than a means of providing accommodation for the homeless. Built in a period of housing history which remains fascinating for architects and planners and admired by some of their first occupants but berated by others, those prefabs remaining today are subject to preservation orders but also perhaps offer a solution to the ongoing housing crisis in the UK. The book includes chapters on the development of the prefab house in the UK; comparisons with temporary housing programmes in the USA, Sweden and Germany; political and economic considerations to the UK Temporary Housing Programme and a discussion of the design of the Arcon, Uni-Seco, Tarran and Aluminium Temporary Bungalows."

(Amazon)