Working with Tenants: Two Case Studies

Much of the Tynemouth CDP area comprises a large municipal housing estate, built in the inter-war period. These two case studies are an account of work carried out in two parts of this estate during 1973. This estate, known locally as the ’Ridges Estate’, was planned and built between 1931 and 1939, and consists of almost 2,000 dwellings which have the unusual feature, although common in North Tyneside, of being designed not as self-contained houses but as flats. What appears to be a pair of ’semis’ is in fact a block of four flats. This means that there is a much denser population than is apparent, with resulting overcrowding of shared paths and other common facilities.