SWEDEN
NEW INDUSTRIALISED BUILDING SYSTEM
DE
EVELOPMENT within the building sector in the last 15 years has been characterised by an increased proportion of industrially manufactur- ed components in housing construc- tion in order to reduce manual work on the site and shorten the construc- tion time.
The reasons for this development are primarily the post-war shortage of skilled labour, the ever increasing rates of pay, and the demand for in- creased housing construction to meet the growing need for dwellings which accompanies a rising standard of living.
There are many different systems on the market today in Europe, almost all of which imply factory made con- struction-frameworks, walls and floor frames. The components may be flat slab elements or angle elements of varying dimensions, ranging from narrow module components to room- size units.
The difference between casting a wall rationally on a building site and making it in a factory is not big. In order to make industrialised building more attractive and economical, quite different requirements and demands
must be made on the construction principle regarding the whole house. Normally the loadbearing construc- tion framework. walls and floor frames represent about 10 per cent of the total cost of the building. There- fore further development work must be concentrated on the other parts of the construction.
of
Skanska Cementgjuteriet, Malmo, Sweden, has introduced the complete room unit in order to in- crease further the proportion of in- dustrially manufactured components, with consequent reduction in the proportion of traditional building.
Careful Study
The complete room units primarily comprise completely finished and equipped kitchens, bathrooms with separate toilets, storey-high lift shafts with attachments for guides and en- trances, and storey-high stair well units with refuse chutes. In this way the staircases are installed immedia- tely and keep pace with the building the whole time which is clearly an advantage.
That
Skanska
Cementgjuteriet chose to produce factory-made kit- chen and bathroom elements in the first place was due to the fact that these rooms have been very carefully studied as regards their functions, and standardised so that every re- quirement can be met with a very limited number of types. In the future it may be possible to purchase these units in the same way as electric stoves, refrigerators, etc. are purchas- ed today.
The production of lift shafts and stair wells as complete room units was decided upon because these construc- tions seldom fit into a rational build-
ing system. Another advantage is that they afford immediate com- munication between the floors after installation.
Skanska Cementgjuteriet have tried out the complete room units with their Allbeton construction method and with a system involving room- size slab elements. The complete room units fit well into different building systems and have so far ful- filled design requirements and reduced building time and labour costs.
H
Cut-away drawing showing layout of bathroom and toilet units
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Far East Architect & Builder December, 1967