BERHAMPORE FLATS

Grey River Argus, 6 December 1938, Page 9

BERHAMPORE FLATS

STATE HOUSING SCHEME. ; "'5O DWELLING UNITS. WELLINGTON, November 24. Mr R. McKeen, M.P. for Wellington South; has been advised that a contract hfis been let for the erection of flip large block of flats for the Government Housing Department at Berhampore. The area on which the block will be; was purchased from the Education Department, and is in an ideal situation for the purpose, said Mr McKeen. It is‘within easy reach of the city, is sunny, and the arrangement of the buildings will give shelter to the wide centra! court, one of the features of the design. In March, plans were drawn for 48 flats and eleven garages, he said, but the final design provides for 50 flats and eleven garages.; The accommodation will consist of varied units, from living room and bed recess to living room, and one, ’two, and three bedrooms. .-The contract has been let to the Wellington/firm of Messrs Lindsay and Meidment. Designed on nfodern lines with ample air and light for every flat, the block will set a. new high standard for this type of housing, said Mr McKeen, not merely for Wellington, but for the Dominion as a whole, for though during the .last three or ..four years quite a number of flat buildings had been erected none had been planned with such regard to open space and surroundings, in lawn and garden. Each flat had been designed on scientific lines as to sound-proofing and each would give as great a degree of privacy as. could be had in a single dwelling. The site is sufficiently far back from the main traffic route to give quietness, and is In close proximity to recreation grounds—-within two minutes of the municipal golf links —and is two tram sections from Courtenay Place. Nothing, said Mr McKeen, would delight him more .than to see the contractors making an early start and carrying the scheme through to a successful conclusion. \ “This,” he added, “is the first of the Department’s multiple-unit ventures. New Zealanders have not yet accepted the idea of the multiple-unit plan, so widely adopted overseas in the replanning of city areas and the extension of cities, oyer new areas, but the idea has not gained acceptance here largely because flats in the past have not been scientifically planned, have lacked space about them, and have too often been rooms, rather than dwellings, with little or nb aesthetic effort in design and surroundings. “The recent report Of the City Engineer upon housing situation in Wellington disclosed a disgraceful state of affairs in overcrowding and the occupancy of insanitary and totally unsatisfactory tenements and rooms. Mr Luke emphasised that a large proportion of Wellington’s population were rooming population, and he recommended that the, speediest and most satisfactory solution of this problem would be the erection of multiple flats within* easy access of the city. The Berhampore flats will adequately fulfil these requirements.”