CONCRETE BLOCKS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18405, 11 June 1925, Page 4

CONCRETE BLOCKS.

USE IN ENGLAND. The technical committee of the National Housing and Town Planning Council (England), which is reporting to Mr Neville Chamberlain, in connexion with the provision of 2,500,000 houses, under the Act of 1924, has decided against steel plate ihouses, advocated by Lord Weir, and has . pronounced in favour of the triangular block type, which is already in vogue at Tilbury.

In making this decision the committee states 'that Lord Weir, the Duke j of Atholl, Messrs Braithwaite, aud otJiers who have given consideration to the problem of new methods of con- j -struction deserve the thanks of the community. The committee is hopeful j that further research- may provide results of national value and importance. The committee is not satisfied that | the claim that-steel sheets of houses, if painted annually, will last 40 years, is justified by : experience, but holds that there is abundant evidence of the behaviour of steel sheets used for the ; external walls of buildings in that country. The steel house, too, is clear- ( er than one of brick. . . ! Even where accessible to pairing on both faces oxidisation frequently occurs around the fastenings of the plates, says ihe committee. This ultimately causes the joints to open and to allow the weather to penetrate through them. It can only be mini- .' raised through painting the internal faces of the steel. ........ „ The committee also feels that the redecoration of internal wood pulp surfaces or linings to the steel houses will bo very costly, and the risk of houses becoming verminous will ho greatly increased. The influence of the thicker walling of a brick or concrete block house upon maintaining a. uniform atmosphere as against the thinner walling of the steel and sheeted wood pulp boarded house ir. not limited to that of temperature only. . . The greater bulk of the material acts as a. more effectual guard against condensation' due to falls in the daily evening temperature. In districts where the humidity is high, the thicker walls, by their greater heat, condense, and its absorptive material retains a much greater weight of moisture than the thinner and lesw absorptive wood, pulp walls, and thiis prevents conden* sation. ,~. ~, ,1 The committee, in dealing with the problem of housing hypemcaJly and comfortably, nearly 12,500,000 men, women, and children, considers that at least 10 per cent, of the land allotted for such purpose should ho used for open spaces, and that special attention should be eiven to the planning ol arterial roads, so that future expenditure on road widening can be avoided.