That Special Bank Committee was held on November 17th 1927 when the Committee considered the draft report produced by the Public Works & Town Planning Committee with reference to the Pype Hayes Housing Estate.

The paragraphs in the report were considered seriatim, and amendments were made as indicated:

PYPE HAYES ESTATE.

At the meeting of the Council held on the 5th July last, a memorial making certain complaints concerning a number of houses which had been erected on this estate was presented, and referred to your Committee in conjunction with the Estates and Bank Committees.

The matter has been thoroughly investigated by the Public Works & Town Planning Committee, who invited representatives of the Bank and Estates Committees to confer with them, representatives of the three Committees, and their observations thereon are now submitted.

Taking each item seriatim, the memorialists DEMAND

(a) THAT ALL DEFECTS BE RECTIFIED TO THE COMPLETE SATISFACTION OF THE TENANTS.

There has never been any question about this being done either now, or in the future, and defects have been and will continue to be rectified.

The responsibility, both in regard to houses which have been purchased and otherwise is that of the Contractor who is equally anxious with the Corporation, and has expressed his determination to properly meet all reasonable complaints, even to the extent of pulling down and rebuilding if that should be necessary.

(b) THAT OWNER-OCCUPIERS WHO HAVE BEEN INDUCED TO PURCHASE BY FALSE REPRESENTATION BE RELEASED FROM THEIR CONTRACT AND GIVEN TENANCY IF THEY SO DESIRE.

No Owner-occupier has ever been induced to purchase by any false representations, let alone false representations.

The Council will remember that in consequence of the large number of applicants for houses on the registers of the Estates Department at the time these houses were built, the possibilities of obtaining a house within a year or two in many cases were very remote, unless an applicant was in a position to put down the requisite deposit and purchase a house in pursuance of the system then in vogue. As a matter of fact, it is found that many of these people had never registered their needs until it became necessary for the purpose of purchasing a house.

All purchasers owner-occupiers can depend upon the Corporation giving them fair and proper treatment both now and in the future.

[NOTE: this paragraph moved from its original location at the end of section (a)]

(c) THAT THE WORK OF RECTIFYING BE CARRIED OUT BY CRAFTSMEN EMPLOYED AND SUPERVISED BY THE CITY COUNCIL THROUGH ITS APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE.

As stated in item (a) this work is clearly that of and will be undertaken by the Contractor. Throughout the contract all complaints which have been brought to the notice of the City Surveyor have been rectified; but it is gathered that in many instances the Contractor was approached direct, without any intimation being given to the Department.

It may be convenient at this stage to epitomize the complaints and the steps taken to remedy the same:

83 houses (including those mentioned in the memorial) have been inspected and examined by responsible officials of the Public Works and Estates Departments and their reports have formed the subject of consideration been submitted at meetings of the representatives of the three Committees.

69 of the houses have been purchased by the occupiers and 14 are rented. Nine occupiers explained to the Inspectors that they had no complaint to make, while another six said they had no complaint of importance but had signed the memorial with a view to assisting the occupiers of houses who had genuine complaints; to ensuring that minor defects in their own houses would be put right; or for getting work done other than that provided in the specification.

In 53 houses the inspection showed  that the defects were of a minor character such as frequently occur in houses while under maintenance. These matters would in ordinary circumstances have been made good before the houses were taken over and occupied, but the demand for houses was so great and urgent at that time that this practice was relaxed on all Corporation Housing Estates, and houses were allowed to be occupied prior to their being completely finished. If the houses had been completed before occupation in the same manner as they are being done at the present time, it is safe to assume that practically no complaints on the 53 houses in question would have arisen. In confirmation of this statement it may be mentioned that since the policy before referred to was abandoned, the number of complaints has been negligible.

In 13 houses, complaints of more or less defects are justified. Seven of these cases are of such a character that they can be made good without difficulty, but in the remaining six the City Surveyor is of opinion that the defects are such that it will be necessary to rebuild some of the walls.

Of these 13 houses, 4 are occupied by purchasers and the remaining 9 by tenants.

Where permitted, the Contractor proceeded with the works of reparation forthwith with the result that occupiers have expressed their satisfaction with what has been done, and the City Surveyor is satisfied in a further     cases that the complaints have been properly met, although the occupiers will not give an expression of opinion.

With regard to the remaining 39 cases, difficulties are being placed in the way of the Contractor, inasmuch as the occupiers definitely decline to permit him to enter the houses to carry out any works whatever for the present.

(d) THAT IN JUSTICE TO THE RATEPAYERS OF THE CITY THERE SHOULD BE A FULL ENQUIRY IN ORDER TO ASCERTAIN IF THE HOUSES ARE "REINFORCED CONCRETE" AND HOW FAR THE SPECIFICATION HAS BEEN DEPARTED FROM.

The houses have been erected by Mr M A Boswell of Wolverhampton under his registered patent "system of semi-dry reinforced concrete".

This patent was registered to enable houses to be built rapidly by the employment for the most part of untrained and unskilled labour.

The standard form of specification of the Department which has been used for all houses was amended by Mr Boswell to conform to his system of construction.

The steel reinforced is confined to the stanchions and the connection of these stanchions into the main walls where necessary, and the houses have been erected strictly in accordance with the "patent" and specification.

The specification provides that "the concrete to walls is to be composed of four parts of approved destructor clinker or ashes and two parts of clean sharp sand and one part of Portland cement". The concrete is mixed in a semi-dry state, placed between aluminium shutters and rammed into position. It is made with ashes obtained from the Electric Supply Department, who have supplied most satisfactory material for such purposes, and it is understood that that Department have used it in connection with their own works with good results.

Concrete with ashes or breeze as the aggregate is the only satisfactory concrete for the interior of houses because ballast concrete causes condensation and damp walls.

Large contracts for houses built with concrete walls had already been undertaken with very satisfactory results. Exhaustive enquiries were made into Mr Boswell's system prior to its adoption, the House Building Sub-Committee visiting houses he had erected some of which had been standing some time, and others in course of erection. As a result of these investigations and having regard to the fact that it was impossible at that time to obtain sufficient bricks or bricklayers for even one-half the number of houses required annually, they entered into the contract with Mr Boswell.

Your The Public Works and Town Planning Committee feel that this explanation will completely dispel any suggestion that the specification has been departed from and that the buildings are not erected in "reinforced concrete", so far as the term is applicable to this particular system.