The Nissen Hut.
Originally invented and built as housing for troops in WW1.
Today it has been restored and reimagined as a garden office pod.
The Perfect Shelter.
Due to its semicircular shape the corrugated iron Nissen Hut deflected shrapnel and bomb blast, making it ideal housing for troops during The Great War. It was also quick and easy to erect thanks to inventor Peter Nissen’s engineering mind. Col Nissen and Corporal Donger his draftsman, had to draw out how to pack a Nissen Hut efficiently for transport, so it would fit a standard 3 ton truck of the period. Before that the packing was often shambolic and one hut might need several trucks and was very inefficient.
01 HOW THE NISSEN HUT WAS PACKED UP FOR TRANSPORT
02 WOODEN BEARERS ARE LAID ON LEVEL GROUND
03 STEEL RIBS BOLTED TO BEARERS
04 WOODEN JOISTS SCREWED TO BEARERS SUPPORT FLOOR
05 INNER LINING OF LIGHT CORRUGATIONS FIXED
06 OUTER CORRUGATIONS FIXED AND ENDS COVERED
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum
A design classic.
Identifying a need for portable huts to provide housing near the front line that could be moved as required in April 1916 Major Peter Norman Nissen set about designing the Nissen Hut and within a week had started to construct the first prototype and by September the Nissen Huts had gone into production. They were adapted throughout the war to suit different requirements, notably including the Hospital version.
Built for Transportation.
20ft x 60ft and 16ft x 27ft
Basic size 20ft x 48ft
16ft wide with length any multiple of 6ft
The Nissen Hut lives on.
In WW2 the Nissen Hut was used as a shelter for bombed out civilians and has been used as storage ever since. Today it can be seen in many different guises.
Consultancy.
Want to own, adapt or conserve a Nissen Hut? We’re here to help!
Mark setup his own furniture company in rural Perthshire Scotland where he makes bespoke furniture and the Nissen Pod out of an original Nissen Hut. With over 20 years of manufacturing and supply management Mark has helped refine the manufacturing of the new Nissen Pod, enabling this stylish garden office to be delivered by a single vehicle and erected in three days.
Headed by Mark Lynch (who knows everything about Nissen Huts and even works from one), our consultancy has been set up to advise, make site visits and help with all that is necessary to make them comfortable and cosy.
The stories.
Just a few of the stories we have to tell about the Nissen family, from the people to the tools that have been passed down the line and inherited.
Lt Col Peter Norman Nissen
Peter Nissen, the Inventor of the Nissen Hut, was born in the USA in on the 6th August 1871. He attended Trinity College, North Carolina leaving in 1891. In 1896 he went to the mining school at Queens University Kingston. Peter Nissen was born in the USA in on the…
Inherited Tools
This is the story of Georg Hermanus Nissen’s tools and the tool chest that we have inherited. I believe that he gave his tools to his son (Peter) when he travelled to the UK. Georg himself died in 1913 at the age of 81, so he had no further use for…
Georg Nissen Biography
Georg Hermanus Nissen was brought up in Norway in a ship building family based in Bergen. As was normal in their period, the second and later sons were obliged to emigrate as there was not enough to keep them in Norway. He was the father of Colonel Peter Norman Nissen 1871-1930,…