2-887-652 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

St Mary's Estate, Oldham, 01/09/1964. A worker securing a concrete slab during the construction of 12M Jespersen prototype flats in Oldham, with derelict terraced houses in the background. In 1963, John Laing and Son Ltd bought the rights to the Danish industrialised building system known as Jespersen (sometimes referred to as Jesperson). The company built factories in Scotland, Hampshire and Lancashire producing Jespersen prefabricated parts and precast concrete panels, allowing the building of housing to be rationalised, saving time and money. The prototype flats shown in the photograph were built using the 12M Jespersen building system and were the first to be erected in Britain by Laing for the County Borough of Oldham. They were a short distance from the future St Mary's Estate on which 500 dwellings were due to be built comprising of low rise flats and modern terraced houses, replacing the earlier slums which had occupied the area. The 12M Jespersen flats on the housing estate were later demolished in 2007 with only the houses left standing.