Hello all and help please

Thank you all for welcome to ARG and all the advice.

I am attaching some photos (as requested) for your interest.

The concrete shed (1 photo) - I am pretty sure this is a latrine. My reasoning is that 1. It looks very similar to photos of other RAF base latrines that I have seen. 2. There is clear evidence of cubicle size and arrangement of internal walls (that have unfortunately been removed) including a central wall that obviously used to split the building into two sides (?boys & girls or officers and enlisted men?) and there are external doors servicing each side.3. The dimensions and floor plan are the same as plans that I have seen of small WW2 RAF latrines.
This building has been used at some point as a stable and there is evidence that the door that is visible in the photo (left side) has been widened. The door on the other side (not visible in the photo is much narrower and consistent with old plans.




The larger building in the remainder of the photos I believe to be a Laing temporary hut - this is what I am trying to determine (and what this one was actually used for).
It is not easy to tell as there have been some modifications:

At one end there are patio style doors (obscured in photo by parts of old dog run lying against doors)




There is a side entrance with a porch arrangement in poor condition
There is asbestos (I think) / cement type cladding on nearly all the external walls
Internally the building has been partitioned with relatively modern plasterboard (guessing 20-30 years old) and an internal plasterboard ceiling has been put in
The windows are wooden framed and are obviously not circa 1940s.
There are some relatively modern plumbing / drainage pipes

You can however see:

Old brick foundations.
The external dimensions and window spacing are consistent with a Laing hut
In the photo with the dilapidated porch you can see what the building materials are like beneath the asbestos cladding (flimsy boarding)




At the opposite end there are concrete steps leading up to an old and narrow wooden door which looks original




Laing construction company built RAF Chedburgh
The supporting roof beam arrangement and dimensions are consistent with Laing hut type construction




I would like to confirm that it is indeed a Laing temporary hut, determine what this building was actually used for, and restore it (without the asbestos).
Any advice gratefully received.

The building in your photo 1 certainly does look like many of the latrines I have seen, but would like to point out that the structures are not concrete but rendered brick buildings. You can actually see the exposed brickwork at bottom left.

The following information about Laing huts will hopefully help you to determine if "your" hut is one:

LAING
By 1940 an acute shortage of timber led to the development of other forms of buildings for accommodation. The Laing hut consisted of standard prefabricated lightweight timber wall sections bolted together. End sections consisted of 2 corner sections 8 feet 3 inches high and one central door section 2 feet 8 inches wide. Side sections were usually made up of 10 sections, each 6 feet wide and incorporating a steel half window frame which when combined with a left or right hand section would form a standard sized window. The walls were lined both inside and out with plasterboard and additionally the outside covered with felt. Lightweight composite roof trusses were spaced every 4 feet and supported corrugated asbestos sheeting outside and inside with plasterboard. Source: www.mycetes.co.uk/b/page165.html

There is a picture of a Laing Hut on page 14 of "Nine Thousand Miles of Concrete" (by Paul Francis, Richard Flagg and Graham Crisp)
tinyurl.com/Historic-England

The airfield site plan would not only tell you the type of the building but also what it was used for. You should be able to obtain a copy from the Aviation Museum at Hendon: www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/default/ar...fields-stations.aspx