One proposed approach presented to Cabinet is the development of 18 fully equipped modular home units within the area allocated for the final phase of the Waterloo & Queen Street regeneration scheme, in Romford.1
The Blitz left thousands of people homeless. In 19422 Churchill’s government began planning for housing the homeless post-war. He chose prefabricated houses because they were quick to erect. They were kitted out with equipment considered luxurious,
For a country used to the rigours of the outside lavatory and tin bath, the bathroom included a flushing toilet and man-sized bath with hot running water. In the kitchen were housed such modern luxuries as a built-in oven, refrigerator and Baxi water heater, which only later became commonplace in all residential accommodating.3
Post-war prefab housing, which was intended to be ‘temporary’.
The war bankrupted Britain and the American Marshall Plan4 hadn’t begun.There was a shortfall in building materials making the job harder. Prefab houses were an act of genius. They were built on vacant land. With the destruction of London, there were many sites and further east in Romford.5 Notwithstanding the challenges, they pushed forward immediately in 1945-6.
They planned for 300,000 homes with a life expectancy of 10 years but many lasted far longer. Post-war families were given stability for their families.
Havering in 2025 isn’t recovering from war but has a housing crisis. Because of their statutory duty,
“…..the Council was forced to overspend its temporary accommodation budget by £6 million.6
In 1942 Churchill decided housing was too important to leave to market forces. The Attlee Labour government fulfilled his programme by building hundreds of thousands of houses. 40 years later Maggie Thatcher destroyed public housing, unleashing a crisis.
Will modular houses begin a new era of social housing?
Notes
1 Cabinet approve temporary homes solutions to help tackle housing crisis | London Borough of Havering
2 Prefabs in the United Kingdom – Wikipedia
3 loc.cit. See this site for wonderful insights into prefab houses Prefabs – Palaces for the People
4 Marshall Plan | Summary & Significance | Britannica
5 prefab houses in romford – Search Images
6 Cabinet approve temporary homes solutions to help tackle housing crisis | London Borough of Havering
I’m giving a talk: Are Havering’s secondary schools fit for purpose?
22nd April 2025 at 8pm at Fairkytes Hall, Hornchurch for the Fabian Society
There will be a Q&A session afterwards
Politics in Havering 
In countries in Scandinavia and in New Zealand, they buy a plot of land and basically get a flat pack of a house to put together themselves with their mates. Not sure how the services are provided but it’s the way to go and a lot simpler.
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I think that there is a very real opportunity to utilise land across the borough and get some quick wins for the homeless and the taxpayer. The post-war prefabs became very well loved much to the surprise of the government. We need imagination as opposed to whining.
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Dear Chris,
Modern prefabs (bungalows) surrounded by some land for the flowers would be a very popular and value for money way to address housing shortage, whether caused by war or immigration.
I suggested councillors consider this and invite business experts on the matter when discussing a scheme to provide temporary housing on the vacant Waterloo Road estate. Instead they were satisfied with a “temporary” scheme costing between £200,000 and £300,000 each, depending what figures were in the exempt papers!
This I suspect happens when the council creates a private partnership to build on council land, rather than just build council housing as they successfully did in the past.
Councils are best placed to build social housing because they’re often building on council land and can finance good quality housing with secure tenancies over long periods whereas private companies want quick returns for the shareholders, hence why I think the council’s private partner cried out and we have the scandal of a demolished and spacious but now vacant Waterloo Road estate.
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Prefabs weren’t built on prime city centre land such as the Waterloo estate. However, there are other cheaper options which should be considered. Their gardens were very large in relation to the size of the houses themselves.
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When the rebuild at a much higher density begins its estimated to take a few years to complete. The final phase of the rebuild is the area agreed for some “temporary” housing costing over £200,00 per unit which will be removed to complete the rebuild.
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Post-1945 prefabs had an expected life of 10 years but did in fact last very much longer. The Waterloo estate is a problem. A small development wouldn’t allow a community to develop and so when the *evictions* began it wouldn’t be a serious problem.
The modular houses are a good idea and sites around the borough should be identified and utilised.
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