FERRO-CONCRETE BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13395, 25 January 1907, Page 6

FERRO-CONCRETE BUILDINGS.

LONDON'S POST OFFICES. In* a fit of enterprise (says the London V,x» press), the Treasury has taken tip a new idea on a large scale. On the former site of Christ's Hospital new post office buildings are to be erected, covering an area of two acres and a-half, without a single brick or block of stone. From top to bottom the construction will be of Hennebiqne fern, -concrete, or "a box uf hairpins and a bag ot cement," as a representative of Mr. L. O. Mouchel. the consulting engineer to the Treasury with regard to the new buildings, described it to an Express representative. "The only things brought to the site." he said, "will be bundles of steel rods, cement in bags, and cartloads of Thames ballast and sand." The whole sit,- is to be excavated to a depth of SOft, and about 110,000 cubic- yards of dirt taken away. As the site is one of the most ancient in London, it is expected that some interesting discoveries will be made, during these excavations. The new building is to be called King Edward's Building. The scheme of ferro-concrete construction consists of concrete, with steel rods embedded in it, so that each material takes the stress and strain for which it is adapted. The steel takes the tensile strain, the concrete the compression strain, resulting in a light building of great strength, because there is not a single joint from the foundation to the roof. The building will be fireproof, and economical both in first cost and upkeep. The whole of this enormous buildingchimneys, stairways, partitions, lift, and light wells, and every other part—will be cast in timber moulds, successively raised as the building increases in height. The result will be a vast monolithic structure, strengthened throughout by filaments of. steel running through its fabric.