Anna, my friend in Yorkshire explained to me that over there, council estate is pretty much what we call housing projects. Though the one I saw was a little nicer than the projects I've seen over here.

I was unable to find a picture of one, but in my search came across this--a set of instructions to tenants such as I don't think you'd ever see, here. Scroll down just a bit, to housekeeping. If you have a good deal of time, click on the link at the bottom of the page, to get to a picture of the building they're talking about.
http://www22.homepage.villanova.edu/margaret.boerner/GPSTips.htm