View report page

76
Tabardstreet,
etc.,
scheme.
These rents are subject to variation by reason of position or special amenities.
The Tabard-street and Grotto-place, Southwark, and the Crosbv-row, Bermondsev, scheme*
relates to areas of about 17 acres, comprising 875 houses with a population of 4,593. Rehousing accommodation
has to be provided on the Tabard-street area for not fewer than 2,580 persons. Chaucer House,
with accommodation for 620 persons, was completed in 1916, and Becket House, containing 90 tenements
with accommodation for 500 persons, in 1921. Geoffrey House, a five-storey block of dwellings, comprising
54 tenements with accommodation for 300 persons, was commenced in 1920 and was approaching
completion by the end of 1921. A dust shoot has been provided and an electric passenger lift is to be
installed as an experiment with the approval of the Minister of Health.
On 19th October, 1921, the Council accepted the tender, amounting to £29,302 of Messrs. Rowley
Bros., for the erection of a fourth block of dwellings (Harbledown House) comprising 38 tenements with
accommodation for 228 persons and also for the erection of administrative buildings with a cottage for
the superintendent, repairs workshops and stores. By the end of 1921 the brickwork for the tenements
had reached sill height and the ground floor was ready for concreting.
The Council, on 14th October, 1919, agreed to surrender a small strip of land to the Southwark
Metropolitan Borough Council for the construction of a footway 30 feet wide to connect Great
Dover-street with Tabard-street. It has now been arranged to construct a public roadway in lieu of the
footway.
Temporary paving works in front of Becket House were carried out during the year bv the Southwark
Metropolitan Borough Council on behalf of the Council at a cost of £228.
The Minister of Health has given the Council authority to demolish the old buildings on the areas
as required, when the new accommodation which is being provided becomes available for the persons
to be displaced.
Brady-street
scheme.
On —24th October, 1921, the Minister ot Health intimated that he was prepared to confirm, subject
to certain modifications, the Council's scheme for dealing with the Brady-street area, Bethnal Green
(seven acres), under Part II. of the Housing Act, 1890. The Minister also approved plans of a block of
dwellings for erection on the site in Goldsmith's-row, Shoreditch, appropriated for rehousing accommodation
for 90 persons under the scheme. On 7th December, 1921, the Council accepted the tender of
Walter Lawrence and Son, Ltd., amounting to £678. for the laying of concrete foundations for the new
building. At the end of 1921 working drawings, bills of quantities, etc., for the superstructure were being
prepared.
Cost of
building.
The magnitude ot the deficiencies to be met out of public funds in respect ot new houses has caused
the Council great anxiety. The deficiencies, although mainly attributable to the increased cost of
building, are no doubt due to some extent to the improved standard of accommodation and amenities
offered since the war, and the Council considered during the year, in consultation with the Minister of
Health, whether this standard should be modified. While many persons were desirous of renting houses
of the larger type, the Council was satisfied that there was a substantial demand for. houses similar to
those erected since the war on the Old Oak estate, which contained smaller rooms and were less expensive
in construction. The tenants of the latter houses generally expressed themselves well satisfied with their
accommodation and criticisms emanated mainly from those with furniture suitable only for larger houses.
Revised type plans of houses of more economical design were accordingly prepared and were approved
by the Minister of Health on 14th June, 1921. The accommodation in each type and the estimated
saving in cost (April, 1920, basis) as compared with previous similar types with larger rooms are as
follows, the approximate area of rooms in square feet being given in brackets :—
Estimated saving in cost
Accommodation. (April, 1920.priccs) as
compare with previous
similar types.
(i.) Living room (166), kitchen (144), scullery (45), bathroom and three bedrooms (140, 100
and 96). End house or intermediate. Not comparable,
(ii.) Living room (164), kitchen (144), scullery (55), bathroom and three bedrooms (146, 101
and 96). End house or intermediate. Not comparable,
(iii.) Living room (145), parlour (105), scullery (73), bathroom and three bedrooms (145, 104 £
and 77). End house 70
(iv.) Living room (144), parlour (100), scullery (80), bathroom and three bedrooms (144, 102
and 73). Intermediate 71
(v.) Living room (157 to 159), scullery (87), bathroom and three bedrooms (144 to 148, 100
to 102, 67 to 69). Intermediate 66
(vi.) Living room (145), parlour (99), scullery (69), bathroom and two bedrooms (143 and 102).
Intermediate 70
(vii.) Living room (185), scullery (110), bathroom and three bedrooms (144, 105 and 68).
End house 50
(viii.) Living room (157), parlour (100), scullery (60), bathroom and two bedrooms (154 and
111). End house 42
(ix.) Living room (150 to 156), scullery (82 to 90), bathroom and three bedrooms (144, 102
and 96). Intermediate 70
(x.) Living room (164), scullery (100), bathroom and three bedrooms (144, 99 and 96). End
house
(xi.) Living room (144), scullery (76), bathroom and two bedrooms (155 and 100). End house 55
(xii.) Living room (144), scullery (73), bathroom and two bedrooms (147 and 100). Intermediate
(xiii.) Living room (144), scullery (96), bathroom and two bedrooms (147 and 100). End house 160
(xiv.) Living room (157), kitchen (122), scullery (70) and three bedrooms (146, 102 and 98).
End house or intermediate Not comparable.
Some economy has been effected by a greater uniformity in type, by longer rows of houses and
by shorter frontages. For the present, lavatory basins are being omitted from bathrooms thus effecting
*For details see Annual Report of the Council, 1915-19, (vol. III., p. 116), and 1920 (vol. 111., p. 128).