Surrey, Spelthorne, Sunbury-on-thames, General
Housing Estate (20th Century)
Site Name Surrey, Spelthorne, Sunbury-on-thames, General
Classification Housing Estate (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Sunbury Housing
Canmore ID 284745
Site Number TQ16NW 1
NGR TQ 1050 6850
NGR Description Centred on TQ 1050 6850
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/284745
- Council Not Applicable
- Parish Not Applicable
- Former Region Not Applicable
- Former District Not Applicable
- Former County Not Applicable
Building Notes
In the late 1940s Basil Spence & Partners were commissioned to build two neighbouring housing estates in Sunbury-on-Thames in the south of England. These were part of a government programme to provide post-war housing that could be built quickly and economically. The first site provided 164 dwellings of various sizes and was completed in 1950. The second site of 190 dwellings was completed in 1952. Buildings were grouped in terraces, crescents and open courts to avoid the boredom of symmetry in an attempt to create a village community atmosphere.
The project presented a challenge for the practice as costs were closely controlled due to the ambitious scale of the government's plans for housing. In a bid to regenerate local business it was specified by the local authority that local contractors should carry out the main building work, and so the practice commissioned five local firms.
In 1951 Spence received a Festival of Britain award for his housing at Sunbury-on-Thames.
Archive Details
Information sheets in the Sir Basil Spence Archive provide a synopsis of the different types of dwellings along with plans and photographs of the finished buildings. There are also images showing techniques employed in the roof construction.
The Archive illustrates how the firm dealt with the shortage of materials immediately after the Second World War. Timber was in short supply therefore the practice designed the roof structure to use the smallest amount possible. The character of the scheme grew out of the investigation into materials available at that the time.
Included in the Archive is a letter from the practice to the Sunbury-on-Thames estate residents detailing what could and couldn't be done with the front gardens. There is also an anonymous poem describing the positive aspects of life on the housing estate.
Archive Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds one manuscript folder for this project and 13 photographs. There is also one mounted colour perspective showing a typical house plan and a layout plan of the whole scheme.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
