London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Wandsworth 1902

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]

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117
Re-port of the Medical Officer of Health.
Rentals ; Repairs, Painting, &c., 6 per cent on Gross Rentals. (The deduction
of rates and taxes is based on a rating of 7/4 in the £, but allowing the
usual rebate for compounding).
HILL'S YARD SITE, WANDSWORTH PLAIN.
We have inspected this site and strongly recommend your Committee not
to entertain its acquisition for their Housing Scheme unless the full frontage to
Wandsworth Plain can be acquired at a sufficiently moderate cost as to give a
satisfactory frontage to so large a group of dwellings and at the same time
satisfactory access to the several rear Blocks, and to effect a desirable local
improvement by widening the entrance to Frogmore Lane, now only about 21
feet in width.
Assuming the additional frontage acquired, the site might then be considered
suitable for a Scheme for Workmen's Dwellings, and we have the
pleasure of submitting a Block plan indicating its development for that purpose.
The cost of the buildings would be rather greater per cubic foot than that
of the Rectory Grove Site, as there would have to be a number of comparatively
short blocks in order to secure the windows facing east and west.
There would be plenty of open spaces, all the intervening playgrounds
being fully 40 feet wide, one being 65 feet.
The trial holes which your Surveyor, Mr. Dodd, was good enough to
have excavated for our inspection proved that the sub-soil was very satisfactory,
sharp sand and gravel being found in every instance underlaying a thin
layer of loam. No apprehension need, therefore, be felt as to the cost of
foundations.
Our plan provides for all the tenements to be on the Associated principle,
as described for the Rectory Grove Site, and as adopted by the Guinness
Trustees, five storeys in height and comprises:—
10 suites of 4-room tenements,
90 suites of 3-room tenements,
65 suites of 2-room tenements,
20 suites of 1-room tenements,
A total of 185 tenements, or 460 rooms, excluding laundries, bathrooms,
drying-room, and hot-water room.