Sponsored film that records the 1960s Skarne industrialised building system used by Crudens of Musselburgh in modern prefabricated housing construction. It shows the casting in moulds of concrete panels and slabs and their assembly on site. In the final scenes, a mother and children enjoy their modern interiors and new domestic lifestyle. T Dan Smith acted as an agent for Crudens during the late 1960s. A close-up of a precast concrete panel opens the film. The scene switches to a planning...

Sponsored film that records the 1960s Skarne industrialised building system used by Crudens of Musselburgh in modern prefabricated housing construction. It shows the casting in moulds of concrete panels and slabs and their assembly on site. In the final scenes, a mother and children enjoy their modern interiors and new domestic lifestyle. T Dan Smith acted as an agent for Crudens during the late 1960s. A close-up of a precast concrete panel opens the film. The scene switches to a planning office with men at drawing desks with Anglepoise lights. Various shots of architectural models of two storey 1960s housing units, which include overhead shots of the inclusion of precast concrete panels on a flat roof, and the interior layout of the rooms. A few twigs stand in for trees. Builders walk the steel girders of the frames they are assembling. Precast concrete panels are fabricated on site nearby. The panels are moved along on a vertical hanging racks. There is a general view of the warehouse interior. At a brownfield site nearby, a bulldozer moves earth to flatten the site for building foundations. A worker sprays liquid onto a panel mold or “form” near the construction site. A rectangular metal grid and piping is laid by workers. A hopper is filled with cement and transported to the fabrication site where it is poured into the mold. Water is added via pipes. A steel bar is pulled across the wet concrete to smooth. When dry, a hoist is attached to the panel block and it is lifted away from the mold. The panel is pressure tested. Close-up of a gauge. Hanging panels are wetted down. Further shots of a worker smoothing away gravel or aggregate. The finished panels are transported out of the factory, polished and finished outside. On the building site, foundations are laid and then the panels are lifted into place. There is a general view of new build modern housing blocks in the background as a panel is hoisted into place in the foreground. Various shots record the construction of the units (small, uniform cubes in long rows) and the slotting in of the precast concrete panels and the ready built door and window panels. Joiners fit the interior doors and frames. The central heating boiler is installed, followed by sink unit, bathroom, floor tiles, wallpaper, sockets and electrical meters. A young woman unlocks the door to her new precast concrete walled house, accompanied by her two children. Returning home, the children settle in to play in the living room. The mother turns on the heating unit. The mother begins to cook in her modern kitchen. She carries in the food to the open plan dining and living room area and hustles the children to the table to eat. In the bathroom, she dresses her son in his pyjamas. He jumps into a spacious double bed and is tucked in for the night by his mother. The mother retires to the low ceiling modern living room to relax for the evening. Exterior shots of the identical rows of housing units on the new estate. The film closes with a brief close-up of the precast concrete panel.