The Moving Prefab Museum and Archive project
We invented the “Moving Prefab” concept after we lost – to a criminal fire – the physical Prefab Museum we had for seven months in an original post-war prefab in Catford, South London. Instead of prefab enthusiasts coming to us, we decided to go to them and to places linked to prefabs!
We come with our prefab knowledge to give talks, run tours, organise events like archive tea parties, exhibitions… And we come to enrich our archive by collecting more documents, recording and filming prefab residents (or ex-residents) happy to share their stories with us, to train people in archiving and oral history and of course to meet like-prefab-minded people!
The Prefab Museum was awarded support from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project The Moving Prefab Museum and Archive, with events from May 2016 to December 2017. This exciting project brought the Prefab Museum to venues and museums across the UK where we collected stories, photos and memories for a national archive of prefabs! We would like to thank all the prefab enthusiasts who have been so encouraging and supportive and the network of prefab scouts who tell us about prefabs past and present!
News: The Wake Green Road prefabs in Moseley, Birmingham, have been included in Historic England’s Irreplaceable: The History of England in 100 places, in the Homes and Gardens category. Read more
The new education pack is now available for download.
In May 2016 we embarked on our prefabs roadshow which marked 70 years of post-war prefabs. 16 heritage events have been completed to December 2017 from North Yorkshire to the south coast. To find out more about the project, read the Moving Prefab Museum and Archive leaflet and our blog posts. You can read, listen to and watch our prefab adventures and shared stories and photos on this site and in the Prefab Post quarterly newsletters. We make regular and guest blog posts on prefab-related topics and welcome suggestions and written memories.
You can listen to BBC Radio 4 ‘Making History’ programme broadcast at 3.30pm on 23rd January 2018 about Swedish prefabricated timber houses. The Prefab Museum is pleased to be invited to speak on radio and TV, and has featured on Vanessa Feltz and Georgey Spanswick.
In March 2017, Thomson Reuters Foundation published an article and video about the Prefab Museum and the Excalibur Estate: ‘Palaces for the People’ in peril despite UK prefab revival and the video on Youtube Palaces for the People – The Excalibur Estate