Finnimore, B (1986) The industrialisation of building: building systems and social housing in postwar Britain 1942 to 1975. PhD thesis, University College London, UK.
Abstract
This study describes the development of system building in postwar social housing. System building required major transformations in the nature of the building producer and client. The transformation in the producer consisted of a change from the conventional pattern of selling the capacity to build individual buildings to selling a specific product, the building system, a general feature of which was its use of new building technologies and requirement for considerable capital investment. The transformation in the client consisted of a departure from the historical pattern of conceiving each building as an individual project to presenting large programmes of standardised buildings. These transformations took place within a specific historical epoch - the Welfare State. While the Welfare State provided conditions favourable to system building, it is argued that the policies persued by central government, the building industry, local authorities, the architectural profession and building trades unions played a crucial role in its development. These are examined in turn. The concept of mass production was continually associated with postwar developments in building technology, and the attraction of this idea to Welfare policy makers is also discussed. Chapters Six and Seven look in detail at the types of system promoted, both by government research and development architects and by commercial sponsors. The last chapter examines the architectural character of the housing produced by system building and the. relationship between technology and design theory in social housing.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | architect; building industry; building trades; capital investment; client; commercial; government; history; investment; new build; policy; system building; welfare state |
| Index terms: | research and development, housing, building trade, history, building technology, capital investment, programme, local authority, industrialization, architect, profession, building industry, building system, system building, social housing, new build, transformation |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, architectural and construction history, business, profession, construction type, institututions, practitioner, engineering systems, sociology, research management, building construction, project controls, housing and residential development, industry analysis, construction integration, economic development |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Time Control, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here