People looking at a block of ‘Jespersen’ flats at Victoria Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire
In 1963 John Laing plc bought the rights to a Danish building system for flats known as ‘Jespersen’ or 'Jesperson'. The flats were built using prefabricated or ready-made parts and precast concrete panels. This saved time and money in a decade when housebuilding reached a post-Second World War peak. Many tower blocks were built during the 1960s and early 1970s, as demand for homes increased. Home ownership grew in the 1960s, and by the end of the decade there were as many homeowners as their were renters in Britain.