Abstract:

Audits of Great Britain Limited recently collaborated with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government on the Housing Layout Survey described in this paper. The Survey is part of a long term programme of research which has already included a desk appraisal of 26 publicly built housing schemes, exploratory work for the survey itself, and a study, comprising some 20,000 observations, of children at play. The Survey is to be followed by a survey of Specialist Opinion among housing specialists, some theoretical studies, and finally a High Density Housing Project which will be built according to the standards by then arrived at, and formulated partly from the results of the Housing Layout Survey. Six widely differing housing estates were covered; in all, 1,317 housewives and 370 husbands were interviewed by investigators of the AGB Field Force, using a structured questionnaire devised in collaboration with sociologists from the Ministry's Research and Development Group. Interviews ranged over a large number of topics relating to use of and attitude towards the estate in question, and the individual accommodation occupied. Results of the Survey are currently being assessed by the Ministry, with a view to preparing advisory bulletins recommending standards for housing layout to all Local Authorities in the country. Additionally, some of the results will be considered at length in design bulletins used principally by Local Authorities and Architects