PREFABULOUS!

Grand staircases, saunas, even pools – prefabs ain’t what they used to be . . .

MENTION the word ‘ prefab’ and you would not visualise picture-perfect homes with saunas, cinema rooms and sweeping staircases. But then, as these envy-inducing pictures show, pre- fabricated houses have come a very long way since their inception in the Forties, with their traditional corrugated iron roofs and concrete walls.

Today’s prefabs are positively posh, with Channel 4 Grand Designs’ presenter Kevin McCloud a big fan. Usually made from timber, they’re put together rather like a giant Lego house, with preassembled sections that have been precisely cut with lasers so they slot together with ease.

And they’re as sturdy as brick, being placed on concrete foundations and attached to embedded metal plates.

They’re just as cosy as a ‘real’ house, too, and modern building techniques mean the sturdy walls can be plastered.

What’s more, the new breed of pre-fabs allow for utter flexibility inside and out. Any sort of layout is possible and unique features are easy to accommodate.

While a double-vaulted ceiling or balcony might be prohibitively expensive and tricky to install in a traditional brick build, that’s not the case with a prefab.

It’s this ability to create the ‘wow’ factor quickly and relatively cheaply that’s attracting the smart set to prefabs.

Barbara Fischer-Clark, UK agent for Stommel Haus, a German prefab company, says: ‘Double-height rooms with vaulted ceilings, which are often more than 7m high, are common,’ she says. ‘You can have anything you dream of.’

Gadgetry is easy to install, too, as there’s no carving out of brickwork for cables. Everything can be installed neatly away within the timber frame as it’s built.

Where the post-war prefabs cost just £1,000, today’s posh versions can be anything up to a £1 million.

But as these owners testify, these days you can lead a surprisingly luxurious lifestyle in a prefab …

aDDITIONaL reporting: samaNTha brIck.