The first council to build housing as an integrated policy was Liverpool Corporation,[2] starting with St Martin's Cottages in Ashfield Street, Vauxhall, completed in 1869.

[7] He worked on the influential Tudor Walters Report of 1918, which recommended housing in short terraces, spaced at 70 feet (21 m) at a density of 12 to the acre.

The First World War indirectly provided a new impetus, when the poor physical health and condition of many urban recruits to the army was noted with alarm.

It failed to make any provision for the lower paid, who were living in the worse conditions, and could not afford to pay the higher rents of the new houses.

An advertisement offering to complete furnish an Atholl all-steel house in Downham for £78.17.11d, gave a full list of what was needed.