Page 36 - The Building Conservation Directory 2013

3 6 t h e b u i l d i n g c o n s e r vat i o n d i r e c t o r y 2 0 1 3 T w e n t i e t h a N N i v e r s a r y e d i t i o n
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Professional services
requirements of colonial expansion into
countries such as Australia and South Africa.
The domestic market for prefabricated
buildings was also growing, and as transport
links improved, the pallet of locally available
materials was expanded to include sheet iron.
Public fascination with this new and exciting
material was such that in 1845 an ‘iron palace’
built in Liverpool for export to Africa was
displayed to the public, who paid a small fee
to view it.
However, the public love affair with
corrugated iron during the first half the
19th century does not appear to have been
unanimous or unconditional. Contemporary
reports suggest that some bishops were
unwilling to consecrate iron churches and that
the public would not tolerate it in their towns
and cities.
Social and economic influences
The latter half of the 19th century was
characterised by increasing industrialisation
and a steady migration from the country
corrugated iron. As a consequence, local
vernacular styles were partially eroded
but, paradoxically, CI also extended
the lives of many rural buildings.
Military uses
Until the early 20th century most military
structures had been permanent. However,
the first world war acted as a catalyst to
the development of one of the once most
ubiquitous of CI buildings, the Nissen hut.
Named after their designer, Captain Peter
Nissen, these distinctive structures were
cheap to manufacture, easy to transport and
simple to erect, and they solved the huge
logistical problem of housing millions of
troops. Nissen huts continued in military
service through both world wars and beyond.
Following the first world war, attempts
were made to develop the Nissen hut design
for the residential housing market but this
proved to be uneconomical and only a handful
were ever built. Many Nissen huts survive
today and have been successfully adapted to
a wide variety of uses, a testament to their
versatility and robustness.
New building types proliferated in Britain
during and between the two world wars.
Many were associated with the newly formed
RAF, but one in particular was produced
on an enormous scale. At least 1½ million
Anderson shelters were distributed to British
households during the second world war to
help protect the population from German
bombing, making it possibly the most widely
produced prefabricated structure ever seen in
Britain and one that is deeply embedded in the
memories of a generation.
Significance
The idea that corrugated iron could have
any sort of cultural significance has
been slow to take hold in Britain. This
has been a particular problem for the
smaller prefabricated structures, many
of which have been demolished.
Nevertheless, the architectural and
historic significance of CI is now more
widely recognised and there is a greater
understanding of the less obvious attributes of
these structures such as innovation in design
and construction, associations with people
and places, positive contribution to urban and
rural landscapes, and economic value. Some
examples have been given statutory protection
and several have been carefully dismantled
and erected at open air museums.
Corrosion of corrugated iron cladding is often the
result of changes in ground level.
Poor maintenance can lead to the loss of important visual elements.
Regular painting is often all that is needed to ensure that iron cladding remains in good condition. Simple
features such as this decorative ridge piece require particular attention to ensure the character of the building
is preserved.
into the towns and cities. Many of
these urban settlers endured difficult
working and living conditions, and found
comfort in religion which played an
increasingly important part in people’s
lives during much of the 19th century.
Companies such as William Cooper and
Boulton & Paul helped to feed the demand for
chapels, churches and Sunday schools along
with many other types of CI building, which
were sold in large numbers and transported
across the country. Many of these religious
buildings survive today as a visible reminder
of the prevalence of CI buildings during the
19th and early 20th centuries.
CI as a replacement material
Rural landscapes changed forever during
the late 19th and early 20th centuries as
corrugated iron replaced materials that
had persisted in local building traditions
for centuries. Thatch in particular, which
had become associated with rural poverty,
was often replaced or sheeted over with