SAFER BUILDINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 37, 13 February 1931, Page 3

SAFER BUILDINGS.

WORKMANSHIP ESSENTIAL HELP prom: architects. INQUIRY TO BE MADE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The question of rebuilding in' the earthquake area and the "workmanship in the structures which were destroyed were discussed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Architects yesterday. In the course of an address, Mr. G. A. Troup, Mayor of Wellington, said that he was certain from what he had heard and from what he had seen from •photographs that a. great many of the buildings which had fallen had not been constructed as they should have been. Those who had visited the area told him they had picked up bricks with not a semblance even of lime mortar, let alone" hydraulic lime, or-cement mortar. The architects for those buildings, to his mind, had a very serious responsibility resting on them. The main essential was not only to design a building, but to see that it was built in such a way that they could at least say it had been faithfully constructed according to specification. Committee of Experts. The meeting decided to forward the following letter to the Prime Minister: "Realising the responsibility devolving upoii the architects of the Dominion to safeguard the public in so far as is humanely possible from a similar future catastrophe, members have given the matter their earnest consideration and offer the following suggestions:— " (1) That immediate consideration of the town-planning aspects of the rehabilitation proposals for the devastated area is of prime importance and should be dealt with before any permanent rebuilding is permitted. To this end the expert town-planning knowledge available in New Zealand should be utilised to the utmost. (2) We stress the importance in all rebuilding operations of the selection of that system most suitable to the particular worK which may be in hand. Furthermore, any system so adopted should be one ol a consistent character throughout an individual building and, needless to say, not only designed according to recognised earthquake and fire-resisting principles, but soundly and faithfully built. " "To further the above a committee of our members has been set up to make definite recommendations in regard to the guiding principles and details of construction, and the possibility of the incorporation of these in a building code. The findings of this committee will be made available to the public." The _ letter recalls that before the Murchison disaster the institute had brought to the • attention of the Government of the day the necessity for the preparation of such a code and had offered assistance in its preparation.