SNN106439 - A Prefabricated Building at the Primary School, Cranford

The implementation of the 1944 Education Act raised the school leaving age from 14 to 15 in 1947. As a result a rapid expansion of space was required to accommodate the additional pupils. One response was the provision of temporary accommodation in prefabricated buildings, utilising the designs for standard huts issued by the Ministry of Works during World War II. A prefabricated building was erected in the grounds of Cranford school in 1946 but, far from being temporary, this was still in use some six decades later. Once common, these buildings are becoming increasingly scarce, and this example was recorded before demolition. The basic structure remained largely as built although the windows had been replaced and few original internal fixtures or fittings survived. The construction method was as described in the Ministry of Works construction manual, although the dimensions of the building and some use of materials suggest that it was a modified form of a standard type 24