TYPES AND COSTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 10

TYPES AND COSTS

HOUSING IN BRITAIN

MR. M. FRASER'S INQUIRIES

In an informal address to members oi the Wellington branch of the Australian Institute of Secretaries today Mr. M. Fraser gave his impression of housing schemes in Britain and also some general pictures of Britain today. Mr. F. H. Bass was in the chair. Mr. Fraser contrasted the several schemes which investigated, for types and costs differed considerably. The Glasgow scheme, and also a number of London and other .developments, he said, were "townplanned" over a complete *estate, with the houses— single and double, or multiple (six and eight units)— arranged to provide maximum air space, the restriction as to air space not concerning itself so much with the space about individual houses, as with the number of dwellings to the acre. Houses were not built in rows, but were laid out in groups to make most effective use of the land. The cost of the Glasgow group houses was about £750 freehold for a fiverroomed house, in which particular attention was. given to kitchen and bathroom. A HUGE CONTRACT. The foreman at Glasgow had. told] him that the biggest contract entered into was for 3500 houses; that the work was started in January, and that 400 houses were sold in the following The Durham scheme was in contrast to what was seen at Glasgow. There •houses were built in brick in strings and rows, and though the materials were good, the finish was distinctly below that of modern houses in Wellington, but they were building down to the miner's pocket, the leasehold price being £330, plus £2 a year rent, and the freehold price -£380. The miner did not want to pay more than 6s'or 8s a week.

The Larig estate, outside London, has in the course of two years covered 350 acres with new homes, said Mr. Fraser. It had to be remembered that there a population of eight millions was being served, and all types of houses were being made available and were saleable. The salesmanship of the big organisations was wonderful, averaging less than £10 a house, but the scale was huge. Intending buyers could visit a "show house" right in the heart of London and there could inspect, plans; could walk through three finished houses and "buy one as he might buy a pair of boots"; or could inspect sites and houses in a cinema room. Houses in the Lang estate scheme ranged from £815 to £1060, and Tentals at from 27s 9d to 35s 8d a week.

Mr. Fraser outlined the system of finance between builder, purchaser, and building society, State and local authority, and said that the losses (in the case of the Lang estate) were only one in eight thousand, and the defaults not more than 2 per cent., but defaults did not result in losses.

The solution of the housing problem, he said, lay in co-operation between those who were able to build, the State, the local authority, and the building society.