The Romney hut is a prefabricated steel structure used by the British military, developed during World War II to supersede the Iris hut.
At the outbreak of World War II, the British military developed a series of prefabricated huts to supplement the World-War-I-era Nissen hut. The Iris hut was one of these, a medium-scale hut of span and from to in length, with bays of sectional length able to be added as required. However, the Iris hut had a major design flaw: it was unable to resist the weight of snow lying on the roof and had a tendency to collapse after snowfalls. For this reason, it was superseded by the Romney hut by 1941.[1]
Both the Iris hut and the Romney hut were constructed of a clamped tubular steel frame with a central entrance. The hut was used to accommodate facilities for which abnormal roof spans were required.[2] On some airfields, two or more Romney or Iris huts would be erected to accommodate large stores and workshops, or occasionally used as aircraft hangars.[3]
It was invented by Lt Col Edgar Frank Brawn of the Royal Engineers.[4]