The Reema method is a prefabricated reinforced concrete panel construction technique that was developed by Reema Construction Ltd, a company based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. According to the Non-Standard House Construction (NSH) website, approximately 16,000 houses and bungalows were constructed using this technique in England and 1,600 in Wales between 1945 and 1966.
In the original Reema hollow panel building method, lightly reinforced concrete panels were used, which were one storey high and linked together between reinforced concrete columns. These panels were then joined together on the first floor and at the eaves by reinforced steel beams.
The double-skinned hollow panels had trough-like rebates cast into the vertical and upper edges, which served as a lasting type of shuttering that connected and supported the panels where they were held together by the concrete columns and steel beams.
However, Reema prefab homes were expensive and difficult to heat, and subsequent surveys have shown evidence of localised corrosion of the concrete panels, as well as cracking and spalling. Because of this, Reema hollow panel homes were designated as “defective” under Part XVI of the Housing Act 1985, making it more challenging to obtain a Reema construction mortgage, though not impossible.
The Reema Company continued its building projects in the 1960s and 1970s, developing improved construction techniques that were not designated as defective, such as the Reema Conclad and Reema Contrad houses. Although still classed as non-standard construction, securing a mortgage for these concrete homes might be slightly easier if they have been granted a pre-cast reinforced concrete (PRC) certificate.
