In response to the Prime Minister’s stated aim to tackle – and in some cases demolish – the perceived problem of a hundred postwar council estates, we asked social housing expert Claire Bennie, previously of the Peabody Trust, to examine the reality behind the rhetoric.

This essay, written by Claire Bennie, was commissioned by NLA in June 2015 to provide background information for the NLA competition New Ideas for Housing, supported by the Mayor of London.

In these straitened 21st century times, the architectural and residential development world is feverishly concerned with building homes for the ‘private rented sector’.