New Building Regulations in Sydney

Progress, Volume XIII, Issue 10, 1 June 1918, Page 232

New Building Regulations in Sydney

Some interesting remarks about the city building regulations of Sydney were made by Mr. Arthur Prichard at the annual meeting of the Institute of Architects of N.S.W. recently, which could be profitably studied by our city fathers in New Zealand. Mr. Prichard said: —“When, rather than continuing to wait for a new Building Act as we had been doing for the last twenty years, the late Minister for Works (the Hon. Arthur Griffith) agreed to my suggestion that the authority of Parliament should be obtained for the issue by the City Council of Regulations permitting and governing the use of reinforced concrete and steel framing construction in the City of Sydney, and the promised measure appeared in a short Bill, sandwiched, as an astute old Councillor remarked, between two doubtful clauses about Waterworks and Adult Franchise, I thought our work would be in vain, but the skilled Parliamentarian knew better, and eventually, backed by the assistance of the late Lord Mayor, the measure became law. “Thanks to the Advisory Board and the able assistance given by the many societies and eminent, professional men interested, these regulations have now been completed and issued by the City Council, and, as Chairman of the Board. I am proud of the fact that the Avhole of the work involved was done by all concerned gratuitously, as a service avc Avere privileged to render as citizens to our City, and for Avhich Ave have received the thanks of the Council. “One of the results of these regulations, and possibly the most important from the Civic standpoint, is that, as I have previously stated, the available ground floor area of the City has been increased by nearly 10 per cent. —a fact Avhich, if translated into land value, would run into millions of pounds. “The urgent necessity that exists for the Government to extend on the same lines the power of the City Council, so that regulations governing all building operations may be issued and amended from time to time, as is done in London, Noav York, San Francisco, and other great cities, is obvious to all experts, and Avould be more generally recognised if the following and other similar instances of the necessity for such further and early action were more generally known. “At present the authorities have no control over, nor can they insist on the use of, fire-resisting construction in buildings other than in those of the theatre class; yet every day in most of her fashionable tea-rooms, Sydney faces the certainty of, unless matters are, altered, appalling disaster. The mere call of “Fire!” in these over-crowded resorts Avould result in the loss of many lives, while the actual event would be a holocaust Avorthy of Nero himself. “These rooms, occupying, as they mostly do, the topmost, and what Avere formerly the least valuable, areas of buildings constructed generally, Avhatever their embellishments, on those economical shopbuilding lines Avhich prompted their installation, have their chief access for the public by lifts, the stairways, in some cases, constructed of softwood

and of spiral plan in most cases, being not readily accessible, and of a capacity absolutely unequal to cope with the rush of hundreds of men, women and children, whose efforts to find a way of escape would be further impeded by the overturning of the unfixed chairs and tables crowded into these rooms. “ Another instance of similar lack of provision against the ever-increasing fire risk is found in the construction of many of the large residential flat buildings, in which instances may be seen where, in addition to softwood floor and stairway construction, projecting Oriel windows of the flimsiest construction of softwood and stamped metal seem almost to have been specially designed to facilitate the spread of fire from storey to storey, forming, in some cases, practically uninterrupted flues from the first floor to the topmost storey. “A further instance, but in another category, is the avoidable, and in these times discreditable waste in building material, due to the lack of regulations governing the thickness of walls, built of different qualities of materials. At present the highest grade of brickwork in cement must be built of the same thickness as the lowest grade of brickwork in lime mortar, the thickness, not the strength, of the Avail being the chief consideration. “Before these and many similar matters can be dealt with effectively, an extension of the powers conferred on the City Council by the, recent Act, giving similar authority to regulate all building operations, must be obtained, and at the request of the late Lord Mayor such regulations are being considered; but Parliamentary authority for their enactment has yet to be obtained, and, in view of the above instances and their admitted urgency, should be granted during the coming session.”