This month’s photo features the hostel built for the construction workers of Adeyfield in Hemel Hempstead, a crucial part of Britain’s rebuilding plan after the Second World War.
Adeyfield was the first planned neighbourhood to be built in the post-war new town expansion of Hemel Hempstead. Due to the sheer amount of damaged homes and disrupted infrastructure after the war, new towns were an important part of the strategy to restore urban conditions.
A New Towns Committee, set up under the chairmanship of Lord Reith in October 1945, decided on 11 new towns to be rebuilt. Hemel Hempstead was candidate number three and officially became a new town on February 4, 1947.
The original masterplan of 1947 envisaged six neighbourhoods, including Adeyfield.
The first houses erected were in Longlands, Adeyfield, in 1949. The first new residents moved to the town in early 1950, and by the end of 1951, there was a waiting list of around 10,000 people.
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