Latest news with #RuralEngland
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Post-war homes set for a facelift as south Essex councillors agree on plans
THURROCK council's planning committee has voted unanimously to update prefabricated homes built following the Second World War. The council will insulate and provide new windows for 20 Airey houses in Ridgewell Avenue, Orsett. Mears Group Ltd, ECD Architects, Michael Dyson & Associates and Keegans Group have been appointed to 'retrofit the council owned properties made with non-traditional construction methods'. Airey houses were designed for swift construction following the Second World War. A total of 26,000 Airey houses were built between 1945 and 1955 by Sir Edwin Airey who was a Leeds based builder. The precast homes were covered with shiplap concrete panels but many are now blighted by deterioration of the concrete and erosion of embedded steel supports. The work will include adding external wall insulation, loft insulation and replacing external windows or doors. The works aims to 'improve the energy efficient performance of the homes and as a result reduce the energy bills'. At a planning meeting last week, Steve Taylor, a co-opted member of the committee from the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Said: 'Many of those houses were refurbished, repaired, restored in exactly the same way about 20 to 25 years ago and many of them were semi-detached. 'Half because it was privately owned was done and the local authority part wasn't so if anything it will actually bring some regularity back to the area.' Residents will not have to move out for the work, which is part of an almost £4 million grant funded project to upgrade 206 council owned properties. A report to planning officers by architects said: 'The whole house, fabric first retrofit of the Airey council owned properties is progressive step towards the decarbonisation of the council owned housing stock contributing towards the governments overall net zero target. 'These measures not only contribute to a wider goal of decarbonisation but at an individual level also make a large positive impact by significantly reducing the predicted heat demand and thus lowering bills for residents within these homes.'
BBC News
16-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
More than 50 Victorian era fingerposts restored
More than 50 navigational fingerposts from the early 20th Century have been restored. Cumberland Council said the cast iron posts, which are recognised by their distinctive black and white bands, were repaired in 21 parishes. Some of the oldest ones in the UK are thought to have been installed in the late 19th Century, with many having been removed during World War Two to confuse an invading council said the road signs were "adored by residents and visitors" and by restoring them it "honoured the past". According to Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the fingerposts began to appear following the 1773 General Turnpike Act, which compelled "trustees" to install signs with distances for it said many which had not been deliberately removed during the war, had fallen into added that of the 1,300 fingerposts thought to exist in the 1950s, just 717 had survived. Saved from being melted Cumberland Council said some dated back to the early 20th Century, having "stood the test of time" surviving World War Two thanks to their preservation rather than being melted down. "This makes them not just directional aids but valuable pieces of our heritage that contribute significantly to Cumberland's local character," the council Denise Rollo said: "These fingerpost signs are an iconic part of our rural landscape and local heritage. "Restoring them is a way of honouring our past, supporting the character and identity of our communities while looking to the future." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
