Southampton's Swaythling Housing Society was founded on November 26, 1925 by Herbert Collins, an architect who had been designing local homes since 1922.

Together with Fred Woolley, an accountant and civic leader who became the society's first chairman, and Claude Ashby, a director of the Bursledon brickworks, Collins were the driving force behind the scheme.

The three men all put up £200 worth of shares and William Collins, Herbert's father, lent the company £14,000, worth £373,380 in modern money, for buying land and commencing construction.

Born in 1885, Collins was to design many of the surburban developments in Southampton during the 1920s and 1930s. His housing schemes have a distinctive style, usually with rows of terraced houses set around wide areas of greenery.

Two of the more notable Collins estates in Southampton have been designated as conservation areas by the city council while Orchards Way in West End, where Collins also designed the fire station, was designated a conservation area by Council in 1999.

Collins, a keen supporter of the poeace movement, gained natural recognition for his style and work in designing affordable housing.

Collins, who died in 1975, also made plans for a garden city around Marchwood but these proposals were unrealised.

Name: Herbert Collins Occupation: Architect DATE OF BIRTH: 1885-1975 LOCAL LINK: Designer of distinctive homes for Southampton people