Prescott's prefab solution is 'facile'

Re: "Hurry up on prefab, Prescott tells sector (30 May, pages 7 and 8), I do not know what prompted the deputy prime minister to insist on the use of prefabricated buildings in housing. It certainly was not with any knowledge of housing.

As an architect practising in the 1950s and 1960s, I experienced a similarly motivated political urgency to use off-site manufacturing. The result was some 200 systems from which to choose, each competing on price and so offering less flexible payments, certainly not capable of adapting to change as standards increase.

Technically, one has only to mention Ronan Point, the demolition of high-rise buildings or the deterioration of the Boot Houses.

An analysis of the time taken from conception to completion shows that three-fifths of this was taken up in establishing the brief, seeking a financial structure, approving the scheme and seeking local authority approval.

If Prescott seriously wants fast buildings, he should look to the progression of the proceedings in government and his own department rather than a facile solution.