| 词条 | Wimpey no-fines house |
| 释义 |
The Wimpey No-fines House was a construction method and series of house designs produced by the George Wimpey company and intended for mass-production of social housing for families, developed under the Ministry of Works post-World War II Emergency Factory Made programme. "No-fines" refers to the type of concrete used - concrete with no fine aggregates.[1] Background{{main|British post-war temporary prefab houses}}A rapid increase in the birth rate compounded by the loss of city centre housing during the Blitz meant demand for accommodation in post-World War II Britain was particularly intense. Skilled labour and materials were in short supply and commanded high prices. Local government around the country commissioned large building projects to meet the demand, and innovative designs like the no-fines house gave private contractors like George Wimpey, and later the Corolite Construction Company, a compelling proposition to give the state. Wimpey's houses could be produced rapidly and cheaply, minimising the need for in-demand skills like bricklaying. From the early 1920s, around 1000 of these 'clinker' aggregate or 'no fines' houses were built in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester, with 650 being built in Manchester starting in 1924 and taking 3 years to complete. In 2010, the south Manchester suburb of Burnage still displays fine examples of no-fines, clinker construction. Wimpey's design was particularly successful and many thousands were built in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the late 1950s, the emphasis for public housing moved to high-rise accommodation. DesignDesigned to a Ministry of Works specification, no-fines houses focused on functional design for family life. There are only a handful of variations in the houses built, and typically all variants are found on each estate:
Many examples are accompanied by a single-storey brick-built outbuilding, either in semi-detached arrangement set behind the house, or linking one house to the next.
By today's standards the houses are set in large plots of land intended to allow the occupants to engage in domestic vegetable production. This was achieved through siting in low-cost locations. ConstructionNo-fines houses were built with a ten-inch (254mm) concrete shell cast in situ.[1] The concrete for the entire outer structure was cast in one operation using reusable formwork. The ground floor was also concrete; the first floor was made with traditional timber joists and floorboards. Interior walls were a mixture of conventional brick and blockwork construction. To weatherproof the structure, the external facade was rendered.[2] This was usually a grey stone pebbledashing, although some were simply painted with exterior paint, with yellow and pink being the main colours used. Although the pebbledash finish went a grim blackish colour after about 20 years, the houses with the painted exteriors looked much worse. When many people bought houses under the right to buy scheme, they had the old pebbledash removed and fresh pebbledashing added. Although they were supposed to be a no fines co struction, a large number were actually a construction of pebbles in cement. Former lorry driver Ben Hallard stated that in many cases where certain clerk of works officials refused certain loads for being substandard, he was instructed to drive them to nearby sites where it was known they would be accepted. This was one of the reasons a lot the houses were problematic. According to Ben, another problem was of that of the shells collapsing. Sometimes the concrete did not set properly, so when the mould was removed the whole house or terrace collapsed. With some of the houses made with pebbles instead of proper no fines, the cement binding the pebbles would dry out, leaving a heap of pebbles on the concrete floor. In the 1980's, cracks in many houses had to be repaired to stop terraces collapsing. StyleThe regular, grey finish of the houses has led some to criticise the estates as having a bleak, concrete jungle aesthetic. This is accentuated by the layout of the pronounced geometric structure of many of the estates on which they were built. In more recent years (particularly since many were sold into private hands following the Housing Act 1980) no-fines estates have taken on a more varied look with most examples being painted (often in light pastel colours) and modified with porches or extensions. ControversyBy the 1980s, political opinion had swung against social housing, and those living in it seemed to experience a relatively low quality of life and poor health. There were also concerns about the long-term structural soundness of the houses due to their novel construction. Parliament commissioned a report into the design of the houses and its impact on the occupants.[3] It found that the health issues were due to poor windows and poor heating; the insulating properties of the no-fines walls were adjudged reasonable compared to single skin buildings of the same period. It concluded that the buildings were structurally sound. Subsequent improvements to windows and heating facilities have brought the houses broadly up to modern living standards and the design is now seen as largely vindicated. Some examples now enjoy additional exterior insulation, which can be readily identified from its distinctive design. The novel nature construction is still a residual concern and many lenders make restrictions on mortgages against no-fines houses. Wimpey no-fines houses are no longer in active construction. ExamplesNo-fines houses were typically built in estates of a few hundred separate dwellings. Examples are found throughout the UK, and include
See also
References
Notes1. ^1 No fines concrete as defined by the Concrete Centre {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2011}}2. ^Tha Glasgow Story (retrieved 2 January 2012) 3. ^Parliamentary questions and debates on 23 October 1989 2 : House types in the United Kingdom|Prefabricated houses |
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