ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the process by which the London County Council, Britain's biggest house-building authority and Labour-controlled throughout the period, adopted high-rise social housing in the critical years before, during, and following the Second World War, what people might term the "long 1940s". It focuses on the decisions taken by the London County Council (LCC) during the Second World War to embark upon yet higher flats, hitherto regarded as even more objectionable. The Woodberry Down housing estate covered 45 acres and, from an early stage, was conceived as a neighbourhood unit with a community centre, schools, public library and health clinic. The Leverhulme study appeared two years later as Europe Rehoused introducing the latest schemes including a number which had clearly influenced her advocacy of mixed development. The new policy given a public airing in February 1955 when the RIBA hosted a symposium on high flats chaired by Dr Leslie Martin with Forshaw delivering a critical commentary.
