PROTECTION AGAINST AIR RAIDS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

PROTECTION AGAINST AIR RAIDS

London Building Projects So concerned is the British Government over the danger of air raids that plans for the huge new building whieh will house the Air Ministry and other now "homeless” departments have ..been completely revised to give maximum protection against bombs. The roof will be of solid concrete, which it is hoped will afford sufficient protection against small incendiary bombs or anything except a direct hit by a high-explosive missile. All floors will also be of concrete, and to guard agiiinst the entire building's collapsing the upper floors will be strongly reinforced. The ground floor also will be reinforced so that the staff can take refuge in the basement. Moreover, the building will be divided into 16 sections by solid cross-walls extending fi m the foundation to the roof. 4 These safeguards, which are expected to raise the cost of the building considerably above the £1,750,000 first estlcare with which tile Government is atmated, provide only one example of the tempting to protect its employees In event of war. The extensive alteralions carried out at Buckingham Palace hist summer are said to have included construction of underground refugees, and all existing Government buildings are being surveyed to determine whether they can be strengthened against bombing attack. The Houses of Parliament offer a splendid target because they . lie alongside the Thames, which enemy aviators could easily follow up from its mouth. Geoffrey Lloyd, Parliamentary Under-Seeretary to the Home Office, recently said that the Government would attempt to provide protection for “the Palace of Westminster.” But despite everything that the Government can do, the concentration of Government buildings in Whitehall atid the Downing Street neighbourhood makes this particular part of London an unrivalled target.