The Second World War led to the devastation of close to four million houses in the UK and this led to a construction boom thereafter. The damage done by the bombs of this World War, robbed Britain of its housing stock that was already in a poor condition anyway. Many of the social housing projects in the UK that had been erected prior to the war were flattened, and that meant redevelopment schemes had to be executed quickly, especially in cities like Coventry, Kingston upon Hull and London, where the bombing was particularly severe.
As part of this redevelopment, the New Towns Act of 1946 as well as the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 assumed importance. These Acts meant that houses could be constructed so that they were independent structures comfortably accommodating three bedrooms with a lot of free space around the house. These types of houses and townships that were created through this housing model were built by the thousands during that period.
For the middle class or working class people, this model presented an experience they had hitherto not come across. The luxury of a garden in front as well as at the rear of the house and indoor toilets with bathrooms being provided with a continuous supply of hot water, was something they had never expected and came as a very pleasant surprise. These houses, their stability and the construction material used, could be very favourably compared to the ones that were in existence within the continent of Europe during that time.
However, by the end of the fifth decade in the twentieth century, architecture took a different shape and modern construction techniques meant that the above model could not sustain itself and had to be discontinued. These techniques relied upon prefabrication and made extensive use of tower blocks. The premise was quicker construction and more room for accommodating families within a dwelling.
This premise was proved ineffective by studies later conducted by the LSE, since many of these tower structures were found to be not as stable and strong as the ones built as per the earlier model. In fact the policy of going for such a modern construction model was criticised and it was deemed to be short sighted. The council houses built during that time have actually outlived many of the modern tower blocks.
Social housing in the UK had its critics who felt that such housing actually did very little to help poverty stricken people. The main complaint was that it severely restricted the flow of labour resources to areas other than the one in which such housing was constructed. People of the working class did not find it attractive to move out of their districts, as they feared that their turn for such housing when they moved into a new one, would invariably be far down the list and they did not want to wait that long. This fear was proven correct to some extent when Britain faced an influx of people from other parts and these people did not qualify for this kind of housing initially, which did lead to some racial separation.
Author Resource:-
Gallions housing Association offers social housing in London and the South East. Find out more about our affordable housing schemes today.
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