A Dorran house is a type of non-standard construction house that was built in the United Kingdom between the 1920s and the 1950s. It was constructed using precast reinforced concrete panels, and the panels were then bolted together to form the structure of the house.
The design of the Dorran house was intended to provide a quick and cost-effective solution to the post-World War 2 housing shortage in the UK. The panels were designed to be lightweight and easy to transport, and the construction process was relatively simple and did not require skilled bricklayers.
However, over time, some Dorran houses have been found to have structural problems, such as cracking and corrosion of the concrete panels. As a result, many of these prefab houses have been designated as “non-traditional” or “defective” under the Housing Defects Act and will have difficulty securing a mortgage for a concrete house.
By the 1970’s there was disquiet about non-traditional methods of construction, and two of the Dorran houses’ failings were shared by several other systems. The lack of proper insulation led to condensation problems which caused serious corrosion of the steel ties between the panels.
