lothian and Renfrewshire) using the private 'Intergrid' system.
Six working parties for structure, external cladding, internal partition- ing, fittings, mechanical and electrical services and external works were suc+ cessfully set up to rationalise the de- sign and performance standards of primary, secondary and services com- ponents and to establish guide lines for external works. This has resulted in reduction in the design time for each project and left the architect, free from slogging out details, more time to concentrate on properly considered layouts and the creation of attractive elevations.
Standardisation of components
The standardisation of components has lead to bulk buying and cost savings to pay for desirable but non- essential extras such as entrance hall murals and sculpture within the per- mitted school cost limit.
However, with the forthcoming change from imperial to metric mea- surement in Britain and with schools designed to the same supergrid (1200 mm x 600 mm) it will be possible to interchange dimensionally co-ordinat- ed, standardised, secondary com- ponents with different structural sys- tems.
It should also be possible on large projects, perhaps with a mixture of single, two, three, four and multi- storey buildings, to use a mixture of
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tion of the mechanical and electrical services with the structural frame and to avoid subsequent costly cutting away and making good the structure.
Barracks at Aldershot, southern England, built by Tracoba system
structural systems combining, for example, a steel framed system for single and two-storey blocks with a prestressed, precast concrete framed system for the higher blocks, but using the same secondary components and the same performance standards for the mechanical and electrical services.
Excellent results have also been achieved with systems for hospitals, crown offices and defence buildings.
With a hospital, anything up to 55 per cent of the total building value can be in mechanical and electrical ser- vices. It is therefore essential that the architect, structural engineer, system sponsor and mechanical electrical engineer work as one closely knit team, to ensure the complete integra-
These 19-storey flats at Glasgow were built using the Tracoba system of heavy and dry large concrete panels
Systems for architects to use
At Aldershot, in southern England, a £9 million new army barracks was built under the direction of the Minis- try of Public Building and Works using a heavy and dry large concrete panel system (Tracoba) for the living accom- modation and a prestressed, precast concrete farmed system (Intergrid) for the training, administrative and recrea- tional buildings. Over twice the na- tional average productivity per man year was achieved for traditional build- ing and the project won both Civic Trust and Concrete Society awards.
This illustrates the point that systems are there for architects to use and if designers will only give the same imaginative and creative thought to their system buildings as they give to their traditional buildings, aesthetic results can be of the highest order.
From a maintenance point of view, it stands to reason that factory made components, manufactured under dry conditions to a high degree of pre- cision and quality, must be less vulner- able to maintenance defects than tradi- tionally built units often constructed under very adverse weather and site conditions.
It has been recognised in Britain that good management is the key to high performance and that when embarking on a major scheme it is essential to bring together from the earliest possible moment those respon- sible for design and those responsible for construction.
Designs can then be progressively
Far East BUILDER, May 1971
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