 However, financial difficulties, caused by poor accounting, led to replacement of the directors of the company and a change of approach during the construction of the estate.Rents and lease prices were raised, excluding many lower paid workers who were originally intended to benefit, and the planned area of open space was built over – Brassey Square in the centre of the estate.The estate was built between 1873 and 1877 and comprises about 1,200 two-storey houses with gardens laid out in wide tree-lined streets.