PANEL UNITS USED IN NEW U.K. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22759, 4 October 1948, Page 6

PANEL UNITS USED IN NEW U.K. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

The urgent needs of war construction and the post-war housing, shortage in the United Kingdom have stimulated research into new methods of construction, and a considerable amount of capital has been invested in the design and testing of various panel-unit schemes.

A major contribution to the solving of the housing shortage is being made bv a firm controlled by a business man who has no claims to technical knowledge, but who evolved a plan for prefabrication of building sections which can be adapted to any type of construction.

He is Mr. Bernard Bruntcn. founder in Britain of the system of unit construction and formerly managing director of a fur-dyeing company. He was on the upper fringe of the militaryservice age group when the war started, and after failing to qualify for armed service turned his attention to the use of concrete and allied materials for war purposes. He became involved In contracts for fortifications, and realised that destruction of buildings by bombing and ether forms of attack would create a need for a quick re-building of homes. Little Official Encouragement With ata architect friend, he began experimenting in a garage behind his offices, and produced a scheme for constructing panels which could be adapted'to almost any design. The basis of the scheme was an Bft. unit, comprising two sheets of asbestos cement with a core of ljin. of wood-wool cement, chemically treated. This composition, when set. gives a thermal insulation equal to 11 in. of brick cavity wall, and is light to handle, has a high impact resistance, and a great compressive strength. When he submitted his project to Government officials, Mr Brunton encountered the usual fate of innovators. He was told that his method was “ingenious but not practical,” and there was little official encouragement. However, after the formation of a private company to market the panel, small jobs were thrown its way, and the flexibility of the system was quickly proven. A contract, for a big American Army camp in Northern Ireland enabled the company to exploit the speed with which construction could be carried on by the unit scheme, and aerodrome buildings, light factory contracts storage space and canteens comprised the bulk of the company’s contracts for a few months. Order For 29,000 Houses

Then came an order for 29,000 houses for building estates, opening up new vistas of organisation and leading to a system of sub-contracts by which firms manufactured the panels in factories in various parts of the United Kingdom. Six regional depots were established to receive the products of these factories and to route them to the construction jobs. From these depots the units and component parts were reissued as complete house sets, loaded on lorries in correct assembly order At the peak of the rush the parent company was loading six house sets pet hour from each of its depots, and erection reached a peak rate of 480 houses per week. . , , Today the unit section system has proved its popularity in many countries outside Britain, and with the growth of the company much research is going into refinements which should make the prefabricated houses as attractive as those of the older building generations. . .... Schools and factories are still the main pre-occupation, so far as Britain is concerned, and Scotland has given the company a great deal of business. Housing and other types of contracts are also abundant. . In the extension of business to other countries the company is seeking to use local materials as much as possible, more especially for joinery and steel framing. The British Commonwealth countries are being investigated with this object in view. ' Perhaps the best example of the adaptability of the company’s method is an addition to the London Passenger Transport Board’s headquarters building This comprises a new set of offices on the roof of the old building. Every item of the contract was carried to the roof piecemeal by the passenger lift.