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195
Ware-street
scheme.
The scheme for dealing with the Ware-street area, Hoxton (9¼ acres), under
Part I. of the Housing Act, 1890, involves the displacement of about 2,648 persons
of the working classes, and the scheme as confirmed by the Minister of Health
requires rehousing accommodation to be provided for that number, of which not
fewer than 2,160 are to be accommodated within the area. Rehousing accommodation
for 378 persons has been provided in 72 three-storey cottage flats on the White
Hart-lane estate. The first block of dwellings (Archer House) to be erected on the
reconstructed area (to be known as the Whitmore estate), with accommodation for
228 persons in 39 tenements, was completed during the year. On 28th July, 1925,
the Council approved a capital estimate of £16,835 for the extension of Archer House
by the provision of 12 additional tenements (33 rooms) and the erection of another
small block, to be known as Arrow House, to contain 18 tenements (48 rooms).
On 8th December, 1925, the Council accepted the tender of Messrs. R. Woollaston
and Company, amounting to £15,589 14s. for the building work.
The Council on 28th July, 1925, approved a capital estimate of £8,500 for the
purchase of certain properties for addition to the area, which were required in order to
improve the lay-out.
There are no blocks of artisan dwellings in the immediate vicinity of Archer
House, and the Council therefore took as a basis for comparison, in fixing the rents
for the accommodation provided, the rents charged for accommodation on the
Boundary-street estate. The weekly net rents for accommodation at Archer House
were accordingly fixed by the Council on 14th July, 1925, as follows:—Ground
floor—Two rooms, 9s. 3d. to 9s. 6d.; three rooms, 11s. 3d. to 12s. 3d.; four
rooms, 13s. 9d. First and second floors—Two rooms, 9s. 9d. to 10s.; three rooms,
11s. 9d. to 12s. 9d.; four rooms, 14s. 3d. Third and fourth floors combined—Two
rooms, 10s.; three rooms, 11s. to 12s. 3d.; four rooms, 12s. 9d. to 13s. 6d.; five
rooms, 14s. 6d.
The question of arrangements for lighting and cooking in the dwellings was
considered during the year. For general lighting it was decided to employ electricity,
and the Shoreditch Metropolitan Borough Council agreed for a period of 12 years
to provide the fittings and lamps and maintain the installation, with the exception of
the lamps, which are renewable by the tenants, free of cost to the Council, for all the
dwellings to be erected on the estate. The staircases will also be lighted by electricity,
the cost of the installation being borne by the Council. The Gas Light and Coke
Company also agreed to carcase the tenements for gas cooking and heating free of
charge, leaving each individual tenant to decide whether gas cooking or heating
stoves should be installed. Equal facilities will be afforded the borough council and
the gas company to canvass incoming tenants as regards the supply of electricity
or gas for cooking or heating purposes.
Hickman's
Folly
scheme.
Another area which is being dealt with by the Council under Part I. of the
Housing Act, 1890, is the Hickman's Folly area, Bermondsey (6 acres), to be known
after reconstruction as the Dickens estate. About 1,645 persons of the working
classes will be displaced, and the order of the Minister of Health confirming the
scheme requires the provision of accommodation for 1,660 persons, of whom not
fewer than 1,000 are to be accommodated within the area.
For the purpose of providing part of the rehousing accommodation required
under the scheme, the Council decided to erect a block of dwellings in Staple-street,
Southwark, which had been cleared under the Tabard-street, etc., scheme, and on
30th June, 1925, accepted the tender of Messrs. Rowley Brothers, amounting to
£21,252, for the building work. The dwellings, which will be known as Strood
House, will contain accommodation for 264 persons in 32 tenements. With a view
to meeting to some extent the difficulty experienced in providing accommodation
suitable for many of the persons to be displaced, some small structural alterations
in design have been made in order to enable tenants who may so desire to sub-let