Page 154 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

How was the post-

WWII housing

crisis solved?

How this prefabulous plan solved the post-war
housing crisis

s soon as war began in 1939 house building quickly provide houses while the country
in Britain effectively stopped, with all began to rebuild after the war.

A efforts directed towards fighting the war. By One of the most popular prefab designs
the end of World War II, many thousands of Britons was the aluminium Type B2, which took
had been made homeless by German bombings only 12 minutes to manufacture as four
during the Blitz and were living with friends or separate sections. The pieces were then

family. Some were even forced to squat in unused transported to their final destination on the
buildings and Underground stations. back of a lorry, where they could be assembled
To address the housing shortage, Winston quickly and effi ciently.
Churchill, who was the Prime Minister at the time, By 1949 more than 156,000 prefabricated homes had
decided he would make use of the vast array of been built. These homes had been designed to last Rows of prefab houses in
munitions factories and turn them into housing for around ten years but many remained in use for Clapham, south-west London,
part of Britain’s post-war
factories instead. He proposed the large-scale much longer, with some still being occupied building boom
production of prefabricated buildings, which could throughout the early 2000s.

Bedrooms Bathroom
Each prefab had Each bathroom came with
two bedrooms, running hot water and a
both featuring heated towel rail – a luxury
fi tted wardrobes to people at the time. Kitchen
to save space. A fitted kitchen came as

standard, complete with a
built-in refrigerator that few
people had benefi tted from
during the war years.

Easy assembly
The four sections of
the house were Living room
delivered complete The living room’s coal fi re was
with all plumbing, fitted with a back boiler, which

electrical wiring and heated water for the kitchen
water and gas pipes. and bathroom.
154 How It Works