Volume: Construction of Wates prefabricated houses for the Ministry of Works, at an unspecified location

Date:
1947
Reference:
PSA01/04/H00182
Type:
Volume containing Photographic material
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Description

A collection of 4 black and white negatives, showing a completed Wates prefabricated house, at an unspecified location. The Ministry of Works was the government department tasked with the organisation and efficiency of the push for postwar housing construction. The Temporary Housing Act of 1944/5 was intended to alleviate the acute housing shortages of the immediate postwar years. The images depict a pre-cast reinforced concrete (PRC) property built by the Wates construction group. The PRC properties were quick to assemble and required less skilled labour as the concrete panels were bolted together to form the property. The homes were permanent and were intended to last 60 years. by the 1980s many of the PRC houses, such as the Wates, were showing defects, ensuring that they were classified as defective and in need of repair by the 1984/5 Housing Defects Act. Gaining a mortgage on unmodified PRC houses in the twenty-first century is consequently very difficult.

The original Ministry of Works storage envelope lists the operator as “W” and the division as “CSA”.

1 of the 4 images were catalogued and digitised as part of a 2020 project.

Content

This is part of the Sub Series: PSA01/04/H Housing; within the Series: PSA01/04 Negatives; within the Collection: PSA01 Property Services Agency

This Volume is divided into 1 Child Record
This Volume contains the following materials:
Photograph (Negative): 4

Rights

Source: Historic England Archive

Keywords

Concrete, Mid 20th Century Prefabricated House, Construction