MODEL BUILDING BY-LAWS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21760, 17 April 1936, Page 8

MODEL BUILDING BY-LAWS

CODE TO APPLY TO NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS PROVISION FOR IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION Model building bylaws prepared by the building code committee of the now defunct New Zealand Standards Institution' are now in print, and they will be issued shortly in book form. They do not apply to welded structures or timber buildings. The preparation of a national building code applicable to the special conditions in New Zealand was undertaken by the institution at the instance of the late Government. The code has no mandatory application, but will be available for voluntary adoption by local authorities. It provides for an improvement in the general standard of building construction in relation to earthquake resistance. Although due regard has been paid by the committee to economic considerations, improved standards of design and construction necessarily involve increased building costs. The variation in cost is expected to range from about 2 per cent, on an elabor-ately-finished building to approximately 8 per cent, on a warehouse type of building. Development in Welding The code comprises several sections under the headings of preliminary, general design and construction, general basis of designing and floor-loads, masonry buildings of bearing wall construction, walls in framed structures, reinforced concrete, steelwork, plain concrete and pressures on concrete* brickwork, and stonework, and chimneys. . Important developments are taking place in methods of welding, and for that reason the committee considered it inadvisable at present to commit itself to any definite recommendations on this aspect of building design. It had been the intention of the committee to deal with welded structures and timber buildings in a subsequent report, but as the work of the Standards Institution has been taken over by the Government, it Is now somewhat -uncertain whether this will be done. One important change suggested by the committee in its code is that the earthquake coefficient •of gravity of 0.10 at present generally in vogue, should be reduced to 0.08. It is considered that the adoption of this figure will reduce building costs without in any way weakening the strength of a building. . , Earthquake Conditions

The committee is also suggesting that in certain cases single and double storey buildings should be exempt from earthquake calculations, provided there is sufficient inherent strength in the building. The committee is of opinion that this is desirable to meet conditions in some of the smaller boroughs, more particularly those outside a recognised earthquake zone. The section dealing with reinforced concrete is based on English scientific investigations extending over a period of five or six years. - In some instances, however, working unit stresses have been reduced for the reason that the British specifications were not designed to meet earthquake conditions. The section dealing with steelwork follows the latest English standard, and sections dealing with chimneys and offences for breaches of the suggested by-laws are practically identical with those in the Wellington City Council’s existing building bylaws.

The building code committee comprised a main committee, a technical committee, and a by-laws panel. The technical committee first prepared the draft clauses of the code, which then went to the by-laws panel for it to determine their suitability or otherwise for ultimate adoption as local authorities’ by-laws. The code was then referred back to the technical committee, and after joint meetings of the committee and the by-laws panel was approved by the main committee and the general council of the Standards Institution. Financial Guarantee A preface prepared to publication with the model by-laws explains that the building code committee was constituted by the general council of the institution in May, 1934, at the instance of the New Zealand Government. The purpose was to prepare model building by-laws for New Zealand, using as a basis the report submitted by the Building Regulations Committee, appointed by the Government in 1931. It was decided that in the first instance the committee’s terms of reference should be restricted to structural requirements, leaving the question of standard model health and other bylaws to be dealt with later, if required, with such additional representation as might be necessary for those purposes. Financial and other assistance having been guaranteed by the Government, the main and technical committees and by-law panel were formally constituted, The first meeting of the general committee was held on August 25, 1934. Many References Used “The object of the committee,” states the preface, “has been to produce a building code applicable to the special conditions of New Zealand, in the form of a model building by-law, but sufciently flexible to permit of the future introduction of approved innovations in materials and methods of construction. If, however, lull advantage is to be taken of scientific and technical progress, the code‘or by-law must be subjected to periodical review and revision.” In preparing the code, the committee has consulted relevant works, reports, and data from a wide range of sources, and has endeavoured to make full use of the latest established results. It has adopted or adapted much from the recommendations of the British Building Research Board’s code of practice for reinforced concrete and the British standard specification for the use of structural steel in building. The building by-laws of San Francisco and other Californian cities and those of the city of New York and the London County Council also afforded many valuable references.

The members of the committees were:—

Main committee: Messrs F. W. Furkert (New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers), chairman; J. O’Shea and G. A. Hart (Municipal Association of New Zealand); F. F. Gilmore (Fire and Accident Underwriters’ Association of New Zealand); W. Mill (New Zealand Federated Builders’ and Contractors’ Industrial Association of Employers) ; H. C. Morton (New Zealand Institute of Architects); R. Burn (New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation); J. T. Mair and W. L. Newnham (Public Works Department); Dr. M. A. Barnett, succeeded by Dr. E. Marsden (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research); J. G, Lancaster (Electric Supply Authorities Engineers’ Association of New Zealand); Professor J. E. L. Cull (co-opted member, chairman of the committee on building regulations appointed by the Government in 1931).

Technical committee: Messrs P. Holgate (New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers), chairman and convener; J. M. Dawson and C. Reginald Ford (New Zealand Institute of Architects); W. Mill and R. C. Jamieson (New Zealand Federated Builders’ and Contractors’ Industrial Association of Employers); R. A. Campbell (New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers). By-laws panel: Messrs J. O’Shea (Municipal Association), chairman and

convener; city engineer, Dunedin, J. G. Alexander; city engineer, Christchurch, A. W. de R. Galbraith; city engineer, Wellington, G. A. Hart; city engineer, Auckland, J. Tyler; A. Todd (Crown Law Office); F. W. Furkert (Public Works Department).