The Estate - Bevendean History Project
Bevendean Estate Self-Build Schemes
Plymouth Avenue continued
The 20 three-bedroom houses put up in Plymouth Avenue by Brighton Ex-servicemen was the first self-build project in England after the Second World War, when there was a desperate shortage of homes.
The houses cost £700 each to build and boasted modern conveniences such as waist-high sinks and indoor lavatories.
In 1994 the homes were valued at £65,000 and in 2011 the price had reached £207,000.
Digging the foundations
After months of negotiations with the Corporation, the Ministry of Health and other bodies, members of the Brighton ex-Service-men's Housing Society have at last started work on building their own houses. All victims of the housing shortage and on the Corporation waiting list, the members formed their society a non-profit making company to provide their own homes. Some of them are building operatives, others clerks and other non-building workers. They will do the work in their spare time. News of their plans was given in the Gazette some months ago. The houses are being built in Plymouth-avenue at the start of the Lower Bevendean Estate and opposite the prefabs' which can be seen in the background.
From the Brighton & Hove Gazette on 20 August 1949
The Brighton Ex-Servicemen's Housing Society, who are building their own homes, are making good progress with the first pair of their twenty houses in Plymouth Avenue, Bevendean. The society have lost their plumber as he has been allocated a Corporation house, so they have a vacancy for a new member but he must be a plumber!
From the Brighton & Hove Herald on 3 September 1949
Continued
