§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make a statement on the Blackburn-Orlit houses in different parts of Scotland.
§ Mr. AncramThe Blackburn-Orlit house was designed in 1949 to help overcome a shortage of bricklayers in certain parts of Scotland. It combines a simplified Orlit prefabricated reinforced concrete frame and cladding, with a Blackburn aluminium pitched roof and prefabricated inner lining and partitions. A prototype block of four Blackburn-Orlit houses was built in Clydebank in 1949 and further 214 were built at Saughton Mains, Edinburgh, in 1949–50. I know of no other houses of this particular design. My hon. Friend, the Minister for Housing and Construction, made a statement to the House on 10 November concerning private owners who had purchased defective prefabricated reinforced concrete houses from public authorities. Consideration is being given to whether Blackburn-Orlit houses should fall within the scope of the proposed scheme.