View report page

22
"Every flat is fitted with linen cupboard, a meter and electrical
distribution cupboard and coal store and has built-in wardrobes in
the bedrooms. The kitchen is equipped with larder, broom cupboard,
dry goods cupboard combined serving hatch and dresser
fitment, table, aluminium sink unit with double drainer.
"Provision is made for the connection of either gas or electric
cooker.
"The refuse disposal system consists of vertical pipe ducts
which run the full height of the building and discharge into mobile
containers housed in special chambers at ground level.
"In addition to the staircases from the entrance hall, each
flat is served by lifts, the ground floors provide storage accommodation
for perambulators and bicycles, communal laundry facilities,
handicraft rooms and covered playgrounds for children.
"The site had been used as a rubbish tip for many years,
and was quite unsuitable for normal foundations. Concrete piles
cast in situ were used and the buildings are designed with reinforced
concrete frames and floors.
"Provision has been made for sound and heat insulation. The
floors are laid as "floating floors" on an insulation mattress of
glass silk. This reduces impact noises very considerably—the liftshafts
are built as separate units and insulated from the main
structure. External walls are generally cavity, the inner skin being
light-weight diatomaceous earth blocks.
"One block is a two-storey brick building containing single
bedroom flats for elderly tenants and a Common Room with a Sun
Shelter for the use of tenants is included in the Scheme.
"To ensure that the residential character of the new estate
was preserved, the layout was deliberately designed to discourage
the use of its roads by all but local traffic. One principal road,
connected at each end to existing roads on adjoining estates, and
two secondary loop roads form the basis of the layout plan. As
a deterrent to through traffic, islands are being erected at the points
where the principal road crosses the boundary. These islands are
so designed that they can only be negotiated at low speeds.
"The twenty six-storey blocks of flats and the one two-storey
block are laid out in two well defined groups, one formal and the
other informal, and are arranged to give most of the flats an
east/west aspect. The buildings are generally approached by
service roads, but where the distances involved are small only
footpaths are provided. Provision has been made in the scheme,
though not in the immediate building programme, for a community
centre, shops, estate office, garage accommodation, tennis courts,
children's playground and a chapel of rest. The ground, which
will require top-soiling, will be grassed and planted with carefully
placed trees."