The Bermondsey Borough Council carried out an active programme of slum clearance and council house and flat building in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Harold Estate was unusual in that much of the site had previously been used for industry, not housing.

Although bleak by modern standards, the facilities provided in local authority housing in the years before World War II were significantly in advance of anything provided by private landlords, as can be seen from the kitchen (below).