Build-it-yourself housing project was a huge success in 1970s Lewisham

Walter's Way, Lewisham: a cul de sac made up of ‘self-build’ houses, a concept created by the late German architect Walter Segal. Photograph: James Drew Turner/The Guardian

An uplifting article by Phineas Harper about plans for self-build houses by Lewisham council in London (Free land for those who will build social homes on it. Is this the radical solution to the UK’s housing problem?, 8 October).

The original 1970s Lewisham self-build scheme that he mentions, using methods developed by the German architect Walter Segal, was proposed by a friend of mine, Brian Richardson, who was a Lewisham council architect at the time.