STANDARDS IN HOUSE BUILDING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 1 May 1937, Page 3

STANDARDS IN HOUSE BUILDING

A LEAD IN ENGLAND An important scheme to ensure quality of construction in houses built for sale in England has just been launched states the ‘‘Journal” of the Royal Institute of British Architects). Sponsored by the National Federation of Building Trades Employers, it aims at the registration of speculative, housebuilders, the enforcement of a standard specification of quality arid the certification of houses. The Council administering the scheme is an autonomous body fully representative of all interests, including the R.1.8.A. The scheme has received the approval of the- Ministry of Health and the Board of .Trade. The chairman of the Council is Sir. Raymond Unwin. For many years what is know as “the problem of the jerry builder” has been a matter of great public concern. The practice of providing the public with readymade houses is an established- one. No less' than 2,250.009 have been built since ie Armistice. It is not uncommon to

hoar this work condemned.. wholesale as “jerry building’’—a statement ; which is unfair, to the numerous builders who provide dwellings of good quality. While it is true that the greater part of the housing built for sale falls short of the best practice in layout and design, by no means the same degree of condemnation can be applied in the matter of construction. Nevertheless, there is more than enough of actual bad building foisted on a hitherto unprotected public to justify the inception of this scheme. It is worth noting that the more reputable firms of builders are almost all members of the National Federation 0 f Building Trades Employers, the body initiating . the scheme. These members provide, however, only about three-fifths of the total volume of houses built for sale . Therefore the scheme of registra tion and certification is not only aimed at benefiting the house-buying public, but is also a measure of protection for the better elements of the building industry itself. It indeed aims at controlling the depredations of financial concerns—not properly builders at all—who look on the demand for houses a s a means of filling their own pockets These concerns, sometimes known as “the build-and-run“ type, are a menace not only to the community but to the industry also. The scheme comprises-' "the following four points: (a) the formulation of-a minimum standard specification for ordinary houses; (b) the registration of builders who undertake to build houses so built; (d) the establishment of the Council to deal with registration and certification. In adition -it :s. hoped it - will' prove practicable to arrange for a system of in. suiance, wherby, in the event of failure on the part of the builder, the bouse, purchaser would be able to secure the costs of remedying defects a'scribable to non-compliance with the specification.