Becontree or is an area of approximately 4 square miles (10 km2) in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is located 11 miles (17.7 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross and was constructed in the interwar period as the largest public housing estate in the world. The Housing Act 1919 permitted the London County Council to build housing outside the County of London and Becontree was constructed between 1921 and 1935 to cottage estate principles in the parishes of Barking, Dagenham and Ilford, then in the administrative and ceremonial county of Essex. The official completion of the estate was celebrated in 1935, by which time the estate had a population of around 100,000 people in 26,000 homes.

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a London borough in East London. It lies around 9 miles (14.4 km) east of Central London. It is an Outer London borough and the south is within the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway; an area designated as a national priority for urban regeneration. At the 2011 census it had a population of 187,000, the majority of which are within the Becontree estate. The borough's three main towns are Barking, Chadwell Heath and Dagenham. The local authority is the Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. Barking and Dagenham was one of six London boroughs to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.