#MadeOfSteel: Absolutely Prefabulous

After the Second World War, there was a huge housing shortage in Britain, as hundreds of thousands of ex-servicemen returned to civilian life. This was true of Scunthorpe, although unlike other towns and cities, bomb damage was not one of the causes. The immediate solution was to build large numbers of prefabricated houses. Nearly a thousand were erected here between 1948 and 1951. They were intended to be built quickly, but some were also designed to last 60 years.

Scunthorpe’s prefabricated houses were popular with their original tenants and later private owners. They have became a familiar part of the town’s landscape.

Post-War Housing in Scunthorpe

The post-War housing shortage in Scunthorpe was caused by returning ex-servicemen, a baby boom, and new workers in the steel industry. In April 1945, Scunthorpe Borough Council made housing its top priority. There were very few building workers available, so the Council turned to ‘prefabs’. A hundred temporary bungalows were erected in 1946, followed by 350 ‘steelhouses’ in  April 1947 and 150 aluminium bungalows in October 1947.

The scale of the  problem was highlighted in May 1946, when ‘squatters’ moved into a vacant army camp at Sawcliffe on the road to Winterton. Camps at Bottesford, Ferry Road and Raventhorpe soon followed. They were all taken over by Scunthorpe Borough Council in August 1946, although the Bottesford camp continued to be used until 1953.

Between 1946 and 1951, 988 prefabs of four different types were constructed:

• 100 temporary bungalows
• 188 Spooner houses on the ‘Sunnyside Estate’
• 350 aluminium bungalows
• 350 British Iron and Steel Federation (B.I.S.F.) houses, also known as ‘steelhouses’

This building programme saw more houses constructed in Scunthorpe per head of the population, than almost any other town in Britain.    

Scunthorpe’s Aluminium Bungalows

The term ‘prefab’ is often just associated with the temporary bungalows that were quickly erected after the Second World War. However, prefabricated houses include a wider range of non-traditional dwellings. They were designed so that as much work as possible was done in the factory. They could be quickly assembled on site. Prefabs made use of spare wartime factory capacity when there was a shortage of building workers.

Between May and July 1948, 150 2-bedroom semi-detached bungalows were erected in Kenilworth Road, Malvern Road, Warwick Road and West Common Gardens. Roman pottery was found on the Warwick Road site but they were erected so quickly, that the Museum’s Curator could not mount a proper excavation. They were all demolished in 1967.

200 more 3-bedroom bungalows were completed between November 1950 and May 1951 in a small estate between Derwent Road and Manifold Road. These functional but quite spacious bungalows are reaching the end of their intended lifespan, but they are expected to stand for at least another 40 years. Over half are now privately owned.

British Iron & Steel Federation Houses

Steelhouses are officially called B.I.S.F (British Iron & Steel Federation) houses because the design was sponsored by them. The B.I.S.F. existed from 1934 to1967. In 1944 they asked Sir Frederick Gibberd, best known for Liverpool’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, to produce a design for a permanent steel framed house.

Although a non-traditional design, B.I.S.F. houses are more conventional than other prefabs.  They had factory made steel columns, steel floor beams, light steel cladding to the upper floors, asbestos roofs and steel windows.  Thirty six thousand houses were produced by the British Steel Houses Company. They were erected in places such as Barnsley, Derby, Glasgow, Ipswich, Newport, Nottingham and Swindon as well as Scunthorpe.

The three bedroom B.I.S.F. house was well designed. They had bedrooms and kitchens fitted with steel cupboards and wardrobes, upstairs and downstairs toilets, central heating and a coal store.

We moved into 74 Axholme Road in the Spring of 1948 when they were first built. They were very comfortable houses and had radiators ! Quite modern. My friends couldn’t believe that we had such things in steelhouses….

Christine Guest

The Scunthorpe Steelhouses

Building work on the 350 semi-detached steelhouses in Scunthorpe started in late 1947. The good design enabled quick construction. The most time was spent preparing the concrete foundations. For a short time they were ideal play areas for children in the evenings. The houses are recognisable by the now multi-coloured profiled steel cladding on their upper floors.

The Council built them where they either owned the land, or had quickly bought it by compulsory purchase, and where roads and sewers already existed.

Most were sited in six locations:

• Foxhills Road
• Newland Avenue
• Hampton Road
• Fardell Road
• St. Anne’s Crescent
• Angerstein Road

They are sometimes found in small groups. For example, groups of four or five (East Common Lane), cul-de-sacs (Raymond Road), a group of three (Newland Drive) and even two in isolation (Burringham Road).

The majority of the houses had large gardens and spaces for garages, long before most people owned cars. The gardens were a continuation of the wartime ‘Dig for Victory’ idea, and residents grew their own fruit and vegetables, and kept chickens.

Living in the Steelhouses

In 1948, many of the first tenants were pleased just to have a roof over their heads, but they also appreciated the modern amenities of the new houses. Priority was given to ex-servicemen, and some were relocated from the unofficial squatter’s camps. The first week’s rent was 18 shillings.

My husband and I had been married two and a half years and had lived separately during this time, me at my parents in King Edward Street, and Ken at his parents in Hornsby Crescent. My children were two years (Janet) and Glenis three months old when we moved in.

Sylvia Spiking who moved into 16 Hampton Road in May 1948

We didn’t have a fridge or washer, but there was a gas oven and a back boiler behind the fire. The home was very warm. The kitchen was very nice with four lovely big cupboards from floor to ceiling and side cupboards on the walls. By the standards of those days it was very modern.

Mabel Griffin who lived at 22 Foxhills Road in 1948

There were approx. 100 children in these houses in Axholme Road. It was a lovely family atmosphere living there as a lot of the residents were from other parts of England and for most of them it was their first home. We used to have street parties, and hold beetle drives in each others’ houses to raise party money – the parties being held at the end of the street

Christine Guest moved into 74 Axholme Road with her parents and brother and sister in 1948.

There was some snobbery towards the new tenants of what were sometimes referred to as ‘tin houses’. But this gradually evaporated, and after 1980, many people bought their houses under the ‘Right to buy’ scheme.

Newland Walk

12 steelhouses on Newland Walk were completed on 17 June 1948. A strong community spirit developed in the road and, with no through traffic, it was an ideal place to bring up families.

 When I was growing up, we children, had a wonderful time playing in the street. It was a ‘dead end’ road and for many years there were only a couple of houses who owned cars, so traffic wasn’t a problem. We played ‘on the bank’ which separated ‘the Walk’ from Doncaster Road, a stretch of trees which are still there

Pamela Cook who was born and grew up at 7 Newland Walk

The largest garden of the whole of the estate. Two houses should have been built on our plot, but the Council changed their minds. Our large corner plot was a haven for all the kids around. Half the garden was left to be wild and apple trees planted. A great playground                                            

Carol Green, house on the corner of Newland Walk and Newland Avenue

Where the embankment is, where the trees are now, we used to build dens and slides…..Even at night time when it was dark, we used to come out and congregate didn’t we ?. And go all over the back gardens. We used to have a fabulous time

Janet Tindall, 9 Newland Walk

Their parents also got on well. On Summer evenings they would come out of their houses to chat together after tea.  In the 1950’s  Mrs Sterling organised annual bus trips to various seaside destinations and there was a street party for the Coronation in 1953.