The houses on the pre-war estate were designed
in-house and construction was put out to tender , although the council
insisted on high standards of supervision
during construction. The first part of the pre-war estate was built by Copp
Bros from Cheltenham and by Harris Bros of Derby, who built the flats on
the frontage between the estate road and the north boundary; the remaining
houses on the pre war part of the estate were built by Taylor
Woodrow. The first part of estate was completed by
1940.
After 1945 the layout of the estate was done in-house and the construction
of the houses was tendered out. The
flats continued to be largely built traditionally of brick and slate, the
post war houses were nearly all prefabricated, which meant the designs were
bought in as part of the package. This method
of construction was chosen because there was a severe shortage of skilled
labour and building materials, and because it was cheaper. There are four
main types which take their names from the companies that produced them:
Howard houses; Orlit houses; Glen Lyon bungalows and Minnox houses from
a local company, Minns, in Botley.
