Residential terraced houses in Highfield and Peakesfield Avenues which are set parallel to the railway line were formerly part of the Lord Heneage Estate. The 'freehold' of many of the houses had been bought by the occupants but the leaseholder of many was still the Heneage Estate and compensation under The Land Compensation Act had to be negotiated with all properties that were deemed to be, at least in part, within a zone where predicted noise levels were to be above 1 decibel above a base level of 68 decibels. The effects of road noise were to be mitigated by the construction of a brick wall high. Several designs for the wall were considered but architects eventually decided upon a geometric pattern of bricks in two colours.