Building a Healthier City 2: slum clearance, council housing and renovation in Bath, 1890–1995

The project will open up new opportunities for research into the relationship between housing and health, answering a clear need for accessible archival resources for studies of housing at a local level. It will enable access to significant records relating to slum clearance, provision of council housing and renovation of unfit properties in Bath between 1890 and 1995. These records are currently uncatalogued and in a poor state of preservation and they are inaccessible to the research community.

We will catalogue about 90m of records to ISAD(G) and publish the resulting catalogue online. The records will be repackaged in accordance with BS4971:2017 and remedial conservation will be carried out on those records that need it. The activities of the project will be strengthened by an academic advisory board that will advise on interaction with the research community and dissemination of the project.

As a result of the project, access to a significant collection of records will be assured for researchers now and in the future. It will make a valuable contribution to the evidence base for research into the relationship between local housing policy and health, encouraging a long-term perspective on current housing issues and informing future policies.