BUILDING REGULATIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21267, 23 February 1931, Page 9

BUILDING REGULATIONS.

MEETING OF COMMITTEE, GUIDANCE IN CONSTRUCTION, (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, February 22. The first meeting of the Buildings Regulations Committee, set up by the Prime Minister under the chairmanship of Professor E. L. Cull, was held yesterday in Wellington. The work of the committee is very extensive, and will occupy some considerable* time. As a matter of immediate urgency, the committee has recommended that the Government should issue the following manifesto for the guidance of those who are planning reconstruction in the devastated areas:— 1. In the design of new structures, and to some extent in the restoration of existing structures, such as arer passed by approved technical advice as being safe to reconstruct (a) that no ornamentation such as overhanging parapets, cornices, etc., of a dangerour character be permitted; (b) that designers be guided by the buildings in the stricken areas which have come through the recent shocks successfully; (c) that competent advice be engaged for the design of proposed structure, and that calculations must be produced to show that the structure has been designed to resist earthquake stresses, and (d) that, generally speaking, it is advised that structures of an unnecessarily composite character should be avoided, and the general lay out should be as simple and well balanced as possible. These recommendations apply particularly to business premises. A further paragraph deals with the supply of technical advice as an emergency measure.