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the first (9½ acres) of £60 and for the other (10 acres) of £6 an acre. Fir Hill Lodge
has been let on lease for 30 years at a rent of £50 a year, the lessee adapting it for
residential purposes.
The Roehampton estate has an area of about 147 acres of which nearly 100 1
acres on the northern part are being developed for working class houses. The con-e
struction of roads and sewers on this part was completed during 1922. The Minister
of Health has authorised altogether the erection of 1,185 houses of which 624 have
been completed. On 11th October, 1922, the Council accepted the tender of W.
Alban Richards and Co., Ltd., amounting to £62,801 for the erection of 168 houses
and on 31st December, 1922, about 60 of these were in various stages of construction.
Further expenditure estimated not to exceed £5,260 is involved in respect of professional
expenses, the cost of lighting installation, articles to be bought direct and
other incidentals, making a total estimated cost for the 168 houses of £68,061.
Tenders will be invited at an early date for the erection of a further instalment of
205 houses and subsequently of 158 houses,
Offers have been invited for building leases of the land on the southern part of
the estate which has been allocated for the erection of other than working class
houses.
Roehampton
estate.
The Tabard-street and Grotto-place, Southwark, and the Crosby-row, Bermondsey,
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 Tabardstreet
area for not fewer than 2,580 persons. The area when reconstructed will be
known as the Tabard Garden estate. Chaucer House, with accommodation for 620
persons, was completed in 1916; Becket House, containing 90 tenements with
accommodation for 500 persons, in 1921; Geoffrey House, comprising 54
tenements with accommodation for 300 persons, early in 1922; and Harbledown
House, containing 38 tenements with accommodation for 230 persons,
towards the end of the year. A dust shoot has been provided in Geoffrey
House and an electric passenger lift has been installed as an experiment with the
approval of the Minister of Health. Administrative buildings with a residence
for the superintendent, repairs workshops and stores have been erected on the
estate.
Tabardstreet,
etc.
scheme.
On 24th May, 1922, the Council accepted the tender of Messrs. Allen Fairhead
and Son, amounting to £23,332 for the erection of a fifth block of dwellings (Rochester
House) comprising 42 tenements with accommodation for 260 persons and on 11th
October, 1922, the Council accepted a tender amounting to £18,117, submitted by
J. E. Billings and Co., Ltd., for the erection of the sixth block (Huberd House) comprising
38 tenements with accommodation for 214 persons.
The initial weekly net rents of the tenements in the two blocks of dwellings
completed during 1922, which have been fixed by the Council with the approval
of the Minister of Health, are as follows:—Geoffrey House: two rooms (living room
and one bedroom) 11s. and 12s.; three rooms (living room and two bedrooms) 13s. 6d.
and 14s. 6d.; four rooms (living room and three bedrooms) 15s. 6d. and 16s. 6d.;
five rooms (living room and four bedrooms) 18s. 6d. Harbledown House: two rooms,
10s. 6d. and 11s.; three rooms, 13s. 6d. and 14s.; four rooms, 15s. 6d. and 16s.;
five rooms, 18s.
The centre of the estate will be laid out as a public garden about five acres in
extent, but much of the site is still covered with houses of which it is difficult to obtain
possession on account of the shortage of accommodation. About one acre is available
and the surface of this has been regulated at a cost of about £120 to render it
suitable as a playground for children. Land at the rear of Geoffrey House which will
form part of the open space has been laid out at a cost of about £135.
During 1922 it was arranged that the Southwark Metropolitan Borough Council
*See Annual Reports for 1915-19 (vol. III., p. 116), and 1920 (vol. III., p. 128).