Talk:Prefabs in the United Kingdom

Remove "temporary"
This article makes the common mistake of mixing up the different types of prefabricated house and treating them all as temporary when in fact only some were intended as temporary. Those of more substantial construction such as the steel-framed BISF houses and concrete "Cornish" houses were always intended to be permanent - indeed to build such a house to last only ten years would have been absurdly extravagant when we consider that these houses cost similar or more to build than traditional ones.

Here's a quote from Non-traditional housing in the UK – A brief review, a publication by the Council of Mortgage Lenders:-

"While most systems were intended to provide permanent (or long term) housing a few were intended only as emergency or temporary solutions."

I propose that "temporary" should be removed from the title and the confusion between the temporary and long-term or permanent constructions clarified. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.72.129 (talk) 00:08, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Tarran houses
It is stated in the article that 'Tarran' type houses have a timber frame. A reference is given (a link to another website). However, I grew up in a Tarran house and I can state with confidence that this assertion is incorrect. Tarran houses have a steel frame, not a wooden one. However, I have refrained from editing the text as I do not have a reference at the moment.

Article title
The current title is horrible (Mid-20th-century system-built houses). I was looking for 'Prefab', but had to search through a number of pages to find get here. I have now converted 'Prefab' into a disambiguation page which should help. For my generation, a 'Prefab' is the small single storey basic concrete houses built after WWII to house the homeless. This article should have that word in it's title, such as 'Prefabs in the UK', or 'Post WWII emergency housing in the UK'.

More photos would also help. TiffaF (talk) 16:01, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

The problem isn't the title, it's that pretty much every type of non-traditional house has been put into this article, including many that were not prefabricated. It's a total mish-mash. For example we have Wimpey no-fines houses that were made on-site from poured concrete and BISF houses that were assembled on-site from steel girders etc alongside actual prefabs which by definition were prefabricated in a factory and delivered ready-made.

A better solution I think would to separate out the prefabs from the others as they really have nothing to do with each other apart from *not* being built out of masonry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.102.254.132 (talk) 09:08, 7 October 2013 (UTC)


 * I agree, the title is a general rag-bag. It's now at the DAB at prefab, but considering the lede calls them Post-war temporary prefabricated (prefab) houses and there is a redirect at Post-war temporary prefab houses and British post-war temporary prefab houses suggests a lot of creep that has now moved out to Prefabricated home. I will try to tidy up these redirects. Si Trew (talk) 08:39, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Letchworth prefab estate
This reference has some useful information about the prefab estate built 1950–1951 in Highover Road and Campfield Way, Letchworth Garden City:

I have uploaded to Commons some pictures I have taken, I will add them here for consideration of insertion into the article later after ensuring they do not infringe on anyone's privacy (airbrush out house numbers etc). Si Trew (talk) 11:12, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Simplifying the story
We have three stories here. I need a section heading for PRC housing estates- I have read the comments above. So I´m about to be bold. No fluffy animals will be hurt in the process! Comments here about any mistakes I make.-- Clem Rutter (talk) 18:11, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) Ten year life temporary housing
 * 2) Sixty year life PRC housing
 * 3) Problems of maintaining concrete buildings

Fantastic attempt to log surviving Swedish prefabs
Many of these houses are still in occupation, some have been lost. If you know of any surviving or former sites please visit www.prefabmuseum.uk where an attempt is being made to compile a list of all known locations. Several things to say- ClemRutter (talk) 18:45, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Negative: we don't attempt to display products, or contact details in the main article- that goes in the Extrernal Links section
 * Negative: existing wikilinks were removed without discussion.
 * Positive: all that is easily fixed
 * Positive: your prose is better than mine
 * Positive: your project is great- get yourself registered so we can talk to you, and we can think about forming a partnership- to help you with your aims
 * Positive: talk to us

New prefabs- parking a reference
uk-housebuilders-factories-prefabricating-homes multiple uses not just here — Preceding unsigned comment added by ClemRutter (talk • contribs) 14:39, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

Asbestos
The section Prefabs_in_the_United_Kingdom contains the sentence: "Again, a qualified surveyor should be able to ascertain if asbestos is present, what type, and how to address its removal." Firstly, the use of "Again" here is not very encyclopedic in tone. Secondly, I take issue with the idea that a surveyor can ascertain whether asbestos is present. I'd suggest that what a surveyor will do is give an informed judgement on whether asbestos is likely to be present (by looking at the type of construction used in the house), and advise testing to confirm. They're certainly not going to gouge a bit of insulation out of the wall and test it themselves. Dichohecho (talk) 16:45, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
 * It's not unusual for a surveyor to pick up and bag a piece of wallboard and study it for asbestos content off-site. Most asbestos materials are brittle, and it's the brittle materials which give the greater risk of occupant exposure. So simply picking up a chunk of something that's already off is quite workable as a survey technique.
 * Although the simplest way, by far, especially for blue and brown asbestos in UK domestic housing, is simply looking and recognising brand-name products, such as particular types of wallboard used for certain batches of housing, particularly prefabs and high-rises. These appear in the same places, such as hot or rot-prone locations, around heating ducts or rubbish chutes. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:11, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Largest collections
Is it really correct to say Bristol has one of the largest, most diverse collections of prefab houses if it has 700? Southampton City Council alone had 1658 (of eight different manufacturers) when asked in 2017, which does not count any Southampton-area prefab houses that have been sold (e.g. via Right to Buy): https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/403179/response/974676/attach/html/6/FOI%20Request%20Info.xlsx.html Or does Bristol have one of the largest collections of a specific type, e.g. the 10-year-lifespan kind? If so, it should say that. -82.1.109.96 (talk) 23:26, 7 August 2020 (UTC)