TOO MUCH VIBRATION.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 January 1929, Page 3

TOO MUCH VIBRATION.

TRAFFIC IS JOLTING LONDON BUILDINGS TO DESTRUCTION.

The recent collapse of a building in London has called attention to. some of the older structures which are suffering as a result of age -combined with modern conditions. Experts inquiring into the matter are of the opinion that these old buildings are suffering from the dangerous effects of modern traffic and its increased vibration. The fall of the Lord Nelson Inn in Lever Street, on October I6th, with the consequent loss of two lives, is only the latest of a long and ominous so.ries of such collapses which include those in Beak Street and Cornhill last year. Houses, especially on corner sites, shored up with timber, are almost too common in London now to excite notice, and it was recently stated in Parliament that 5091 defective houses had been reported to the London County Council,

When the official mind remains, sceptical as to the danger caused by traffic vibrations, independent experts have no doubt on the matter and view the position with grave alarm.

Sir John Simpson, the distinguished architect, a past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, has made a special study of the question. He told a Daily Mail reporter that there are thousands of brick buildings in London which are in danger , of collapse owing to modern traffic. ■‘‘Many of them wore built soon after the Great Fire,” he said, “Even in the normal course of events they would now be approaching their end, but traffic vibrations will hasten it and cause sudden collapse. They were never built to stand this strain. -Most of them were built of bricks with mortar composed of lime and sand. The lime has perished, so they are now bricks with sand between them. Every time a heavy lorry or a tramway car —tramway cars are particularly dangerous — goes along the, road it gives a bump which is communicated to the base of the house wail. There are hundreds •and thousands of these little joUs, and by and by each one shakes out a little sand from between the bricks. The (ultimate collapse is inevitable. “Who can doubt the traffic vibration!? Why, even my office table, 50 yards from the road, shakes whenever u. tramcar goes by. Possibly a remedy fnight be found in the provision of shock absorbers for roads, it /is a matter which should engage the earnest attention of road engineers if our buildings are to be-preserved. 1 would suggest that. some - sort of elastic material could be placed vertically at flu- .sides of ai! new roads in busy city Streets, it tvould not only save building'from the constant transmitted shocks of pasing traffic, but would also Vlo something to lessen the noise. “The other remedy I suggest is the provision of more stringent penalties for 'landlords who neglect to take proper precautions for the constant inspection, and, if necessary, the support of buildings they own. “Modern buildings of concrete and steel are more elastic and will stand Uu> strain, but the old ones are too often to-day but houses of bjricks and sand held together by the plaster and paper on the walls. In the next few years .there will certainly be frequent collapses of old buildings in London due to the heavy traffic unless some such remedy as I have suggested is applied.” '