STEEL FRAMED HOUSES.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16174, 27 December 1924, Page 3

STEEL FRAMED HOUSES.

LEAD AT BLACKPOOL AND YORK. (From a Correspondent.) LONDON, November 2. A new method of building steelframed cottages has been adopted by the Blackpool Housing Committee, who are building over 100 houses on a system devised by a local architect, Mr Edgar D. Dennis, M.S.A. The system has the approval of the Ministry of Health, and Mr Raymond Unwin, the chief town-planning inspector of the Ministry, has inquired into. its details with the Blackpool town clerk, Mr D. L. Harbottle. Houses have already been erected on,the new system on the Watson's Lane housing site, Blackpool. i The general principle is that the house is supported by a steel frame. The stanchions which carry the steel horizontal members are bolted to. concrete padstones, formed on a reinforced concrete raft. These stanchions are arranged so tha-tf it is possible to complete the upper story before much work is «eeded on the ground storey. Thus the houses can be erected from the top downwards, eliminating the question of "wet time" and ensuring continuous employment to the building operatives engaged. The ground-floor walls have an outer and inner shell with a wide cavity intervening in order to prevent the passage of moisture to the interior of the houses. The first-floor exterior walls are timber framed, and are said to be both damp and draught proof. In some cases a concrete or clinker concrete slab externally is used,- and other modifications in the system may be adopted. The ceilings are lined with an approved fibrous or asbestos slab. The internal partitions are of breeze slab and all plastering is reduced to skimming only. It is claimed that the number of bricks required per house is only one quarter of those required for an all- I brick house of equal dimensions, and ; that therefore there is considerable saving in bricklayers' work. It is also asserted by the inventor that the work of the plasterer is halved, and that the houses can be erected by this method in half the time usually required. A few days ago the York City Council accepted a tender for the erection of 300 houses on this principle at an ultimate cost of £150,000. Dudley and St. Helens arc also .considering its adoption, and deputations have visited Blackpool from Wolverhampton, Poole, Walsall, Morley, Wallasey, and Liverpool, as well as from the North-East-ern Railway Company. Other towns that intend to send deputations are Preston, Doncaster and Bradford, and probably Glasgow and Edinburgh. Other claims made for this system, that is known as the Wild's Steel Frame System, are that it is especially suitable for mass production, that unskilled labour can be put to work on making the slabs on the site under cover, that the houses are both fireproof and bone dry, and further, that it can be adapted to any type of plan. At both York and Blackpool the houses are being designed to suit their special environment.

Experts consider that this system, so far as the steel frame is concerned, resembles that known as the "Dorman Long." They reserve their opinion, however, with regard to the eventual cost until more' houses have actually been built, for steelwork and reinforced concrete are necessarily expensive. In former experiments with steel frames, in many cases the framework used was too strong, and therefore too costly for small cottages. Then, although the wages of bricklayers may be saved, the fitters of the steel have to be well paid. It is, therefore, thought that more actual construction will have to take place before any final judgment can be made as to relative, costs. Judging from the details supplied of this system, it is probable that these houses can be built much more quickly than those of brick.