A Home of One’s Own

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Scott
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Marketing Campaign ◽  
Substantial Role ◽  
Private House ◽  
Mortgage Finance ◽  
Character Design ◽  
Building Societies ◽  
House Building

Prior to 1914 owner-occupation was unusual, with even many landlords renting the houses they themselves lived in. The inter-war years, and particularly the 1930s, witnessed the start of a trend towards Britain becoming a nation of owner-occupiers and of a popular perception that ownership was socially superior to renting. The 1930s owner-occupation boom has traditionally been portrayed as a process from which the working class were largely excluded. However, working-class families (particularly recently married couples) played a substantial role in this boom. This transition was the product of falling building costs, mortgage liberalization, and an intensive marketing campaign by the two key components of the private house-building value chain: the house-building firms that determined the character, design, and location of the final product, and the building societies that provided the all-important mortgage finance.

Conference reports

Urban History ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Martin Daunton
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Monthly Basis ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Slum Dwellers ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
House Building ◽  
First World

The opening lecture of the conference was on a Scottish theme to complement the Scottish venue. Professor JOHN BUTT (Strathclyde) spoke on ‘Working-class housing in the Scottish cities 1900–51’. He began with a fairly traditional picture of working-class housing, which seemed to suggest that it was almost synonymous with slum-dwelling. He also outlined the system of house-letting which operated in Glasgow at the turn of the century, and suggested the impact on the housing market. This system was based upon yearly lets expiring at one date for all but thebottom of the market, where monthly lets were the norm. The main agitation for a change in the letting system came from the mostly ‘respectable’ tenants who occupied yearly-let property, as opposed to the slum-dwellers who rented on a monthly basis. (Regular attenders at the Urban History Group conferences will remember that these themes were discussed in the paper presented by Nick Morgan and Martin Daunton to the Loughborough meeting in 1981; they will also form a major element in Dr Englander's forthcoming book on Landlord and Tenant in Urban Britain 1838–1918.) Professor Butt went on to argue that during the rent strikes of the First World War, it is possible to see a clear distinction between the ‘landlord class’ and the ‘employer class’, the latter not always supporting the view of the former. The final part of the lecture considered the provision of new housing for the working classes after 1918. Detailed figures were provided to support the contention that the building industry and building supplies trade in Scotland were incapable of meeting the demand for new housing from the public sector during the 1930s. He illustrated his argument with specific examples of corporation house-building in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh.

Speculation and Inflation in the Market for House-Building Land in England and Wales

1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1119-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Hyman ◽  
S Markowski
Keyword(s):  
Catastrophe Theory ◽  
Cusp Catastrophe ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Credit Availability ◽  
Private House ◽  
Econometric Tests ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Cusp Catastrophe Theory ◽  
House Building

This paper reports the results of an investigation into the behaviour of the market for private house-building land in England and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s. After Zeeman (1974), a distinction is drawn between the speculative and fundamental market operators, and econometric tests were carried out to identify their impact on land price changes. The property boom 1971–1973 and its collapse are discussed in the context of Zeeman's cusp catastrophe theory. Results of econometric experiments show that the interpretation of these events in terms of catastrophic switches is not entirely satisfactory, but that changes in money supply and credit availability may be more likely causes of the boom.

The role of experience feedback channels in the continuous development of house-building platforms

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustav Jansson ◽  
Robert Lundkvist ◽  
Thomas Olofsson
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Platform Development ◽  
Feedback Channels ◽  
House Building

Purpose – This paper aims to describe how the experience feedback (EF) from building projects contributes to product platform development in house-building companies. House-building companies seek improvements to decrease costs, improve flow and decrease variability. Industrialised concepts using predefinitions in product platforms have provided a way of storing and reusing knowledge in project-based house-building organisations. However, the innovation in platforms is mainly incremental and based on EF from implementations in projects. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative data were gathered via interviews, archival studies and observations, and analysed to identify the underlying structures used to manage the incorporation of EF during platform development. Four different EF channels were studied at one Scandinavian house-builder. The data are explained using an analytical framework based on diffusion of innovation, product platforms and EF. Findings – EF is distributed over the value chain to improve the platform over time. By using multiple channels with differing contents, it is possible to balance client demands and variation with production efficiency. Platform development using feedback channels provides opportunities for double-loop learning. Operative work on projects and the strategic decisions made by developers continuously improve the platform through a combination of knowledge pull and push. Originality/value – A combination of different EF channels and strategies for developing knowledge pull are shown to be essential for the incremental development of product platforms in project-based house-building organisations. The development of product platforms requires a shift away from the construction industry’s dominant project focus towards a more product-oriented view of house-building. Integrating the design phase with the supply chain enables variety but also creates a need for continuous platform development.

scholarly journals The UK housing developers’ five-star rating: fact or fiction?

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Boothman ◽  
Nigel Craig ◽  
James Sommerville
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Building Industry ◽  
Marketing Department ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Star Rating ◽  
Private House ◽  
Marketing Tool ◽  
Home Buyer ◽  
The Uk ◽  
House Building

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the data collected by the House Builders Federation (HBF)/National House Building Council (NHBC) surveys are used in practice to improve the service provided to the customers, the transition of any changes into practice and the overall management of the customer satisfaction process by the builder. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach to the research was adopted, and the findings from the interviews provide an indication of the views from a range of private/speculative house builders relating to the areas of customer satisfaction and the ratings provided through industry-based surveys. Findings This paper has uncovered the views and opinions of private house builders relating to customer satisfaction and five-star ratings. The findings provide evidence that the house building industry is not fully engaged with the HBF five-star-related concept and that they provide a differing level of service in relation to customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications The research concluded that the customer can be manipulated by the builders in some cases causing a bias in the market; on the whole, the customer satisfaction surveys and star rating are simply seen as a marketing tool, used by the builders marketing department as a sign of quality and a way to promote the company. Practical implications This paper is of interest to private house builders and the wider construction industry and will aid their understanding of not only generic customer satisfaction but also in particular customer satisfaction in new build housing and quality-related ratings/targets applied by industry bodies. Originality/value The paper provides an insight to house builders practices by examining the use of the HBF/NHBC survey results and how they are used to manage and improve the service provided to the customer, and the results therefore are of value to the end home buyer and the wider house building industry.

scholarly journals Talking about Birth Control in 1877: Gender, Class, and Ideology in the Knowlton Trial

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flore Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Birth Control ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Control Information ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Birth Control Information

Abstract This article explores the debate around widening access to birth control information in the late nineteenth century through a case study of Annie Besant’s participation in the 1877 Knowlton Trial. Examining Besant’s rhetoric at the trial and in related publications, it highlights the public and performative nature of her campaign to facilitate access to birth control information for working-class married couples. With reference to the representation of issues of gender and social class and the shifting focus from the private to the public in Besant’s rhetoric, the article argues that the late nineteenth-century debate around birth control access was a middle-class debate about working-class life and experience.

Building Societies' Behaviour, 1955-70

1972 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 40-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. St J. Oherlihy ◽  
J. E. Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Major Group ◽  
Financial Intermediaries ◽  
Building Society ◽  
Intrinsic Interest ◽  
Flow Of Funds ◽  
Private House ◽  
Building Societies

Building societies play an important part in the collection of savings in the personal sector and dominate lending for private house purchase. Quite apart from its intrinsic interest as a description of the operation of a major group of financial intermediaries, an account of building society behaviour should therefore be of some interest to those concerned with forecasting private dwelling investment or the allocation of the personal sector's flow of funds.

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