of 1 & 2 bedroom flats. These often had a large glass panel made up of smaller windows situated above the main entrance door to the flats. Maisonettes, usually in terraces of four with access to the upper dwellings by stairs at each end of the terrace. By today's standards the houses are set in large plots of land intended to allow the occupants to engage in domestic vegetable production. This was achieved through siting in low-cost locations. Construction No-fines houses were built with a ten-inch (254mm) concrete shell cast in situ. The concrete for the entire outer structure was cast in one operation using reusable formwork. The ground floor was either concrete or traditional timber joists and floorboards; the first floor was made with traditional timber joists and floorboards. Interior walls were sometimes a mixture of conventional brick and blockwork construction or timber studs and plasterboard (9mm), with load-bearing studs to suit first floor joist spans. To weatherproof the structure, the external facade was rendered. Style The regular, grey finish of the houses has led some to criticise the estates as having a bleak, concrete jungle aesthetic. This is accentuated by the layout of the pronounced geometric structure of many of the estates on which they were built. In more recent years (particularly since many were sold into private hands following the Housing Act 1980) no-fines estates have taken on a more varied look with most examples being painted (often in light pastel colours) and modified with porches or extensions. Controversy By the 1980s, political opinion had swung against social housing, and those living in it seemed to experience a relatively low quality of life and poor health. There were also concerns about the long-term structural soundness of the houses due to their novel construction. Parliament commissioned a report into the design of the houses and its impact on the occupants. It found that the health issues were due to poor windows and poor heating; the insulating properties of the no-fines walls were adjudged reasonable compared to single skin buildings of the same period. It concluded that the buildings were structurally sound. Subsequent improvements to windows and heating facilities have brought the houses broadly up to modern living standards and the design is now seen as largely vindicated. Most lenders will consider these for mortgage purposes without issue. Examples No-fines houses were typically built in estates of a few