Low Cost Housing

Last week I talked about the desperate situation the country finds itself in with regard to housing. I mentioned that I am a chartered builder and quantity surveyor, and I have devised a scheme which could go some way towards solving these problems.

In the third novel (“Stacey”) of my saga set in the 1950’s, John Tucker goes to America and comes back with information about what was then a new method (for Britain) of constructing houses using timber framing, which was in common use in the USA because of plentiful supplies of cheap timber and the shortage of bricks and masonry.

However, John is aware of the unfriendly nature of the British weather, especially in the winter, to building houses out in the open. So he decides to prefabricate the walls, floors and roofs in flat panels and deliver them to site on a wagon with a telescopic hoist to lift them straight into position on the building and hold them while they are fixed to the structure beneath.

This has the benefit of greatly reducing the amount of work which has to be carried out in the open air. In addition, the panels are sheathed with sheets of plywood which stop the weather getting into the building and allows the following trades (plumbing, electrical and finishing) to start immediately after the house has been erected.

Of course, in the seventy years which have followed, materials have greatly improved. Next week I will give you more information about the details of the proposed system.

Mike.