The role of industrialised building in Soviet Union housing policies

Abstract The scale of development of industrialised building in the Soviet Union is too great to be ignored, especially in the context of a country with a short normal building season. However, the development has been nowhere near as smooth as has been portrayed by official pronouncements on the subject. The difficulties experienced suggest that caution is necessary in relation to the following: the planning process, the organisation of construction, the scale of production, the timescale within which the production process may be revolutionised and the quality of housing produced. These difficulties were experienced despite the presence of a concentrated building industry and continued political pressure for over 25 years.