BCT & partners to preserve Brum’s rare 1945 prefab houses, first expected to last only a decade

BCT prefab article imageThe Birmingham Mail reports that experts – including the Birmingham Conservation Trust (BCT) are considering ways to preserve a much-loved row of prefab houses built in Birmingham as temporary accommodation in 1945.

The Birmingham Conservation Trust, in partnership with the Twentieth Century Society and the Prefab Museum, has secured a £4,000 grant from Historic England to plan restoration works on the post-war dwellings.

The cottage-style bungalows in Wake Green Road, Moseley, were among 4,000 prefabs built in Birmingham and 16 of the 17 homes were given listed status in 1998.

Built in the months after the end of World War Two, the Phoenix-model prefabs – 10 of which are still occupied by council tenants – were originally expected to last for around a decade.

Jane Hearn, of the Prefab Museum, said: ‘The Wake Green Prefabs are the only Phoenix-type post-war prefabs listed in the UK. Mainly still lived in and cherished, it is great news the Birmingham Conservation Trust is willing to develop a conservation strategy to save them, involving The Prefab Museum, which is delighted to take part and bring its national expertise to help plan their long term future. Prefabs played a crucial role in the rebuilding of Britain after the Second World War and contributed so much to post-war recovery.’

Read more in on the BCT website and in the Birmingham Mail

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