a month, exclusive of rates and water charges. When the estate is fully occupied the total population will be well over 12,000 i.e. a density of about 2,000 to the acre.

Each flat is provided with a kitchen with a fire-clay sink; W.C.; shower and wash-basin; balcony; and a smaller utility balcony for storage and clothes-drying. The height of the flats from floor to ceiling is 8' 1". It is intended that cooking will generally be by kerosene stoves, although there is no objection to the installation of electric cookers. The electrical installation is simple, with a ceiling light point in each room, a light plug in the living room, and two power points in each flat. There is a wireless aerial plug in each flat, radiating from a master aerial system on the roof of each block, together with a rediffusion plug for those tenants who require the service.

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION

The 11-storey buildings are of a simple, monolithic reinforced con- crete frame, with brick in-fill walls, cement floors, steel windows, hardboard doors, and brick partitions. External walls are generally cement-plastered, and internal walls and ceilings lime-plastered. There are 4" - 51′′ slab floors and ceilings, depending on the span of floors, with an occasional hollow-block rib joist floor. All the blocks are 100 ft. high, and are supported by concrete piles, as the site is reclaimed land; nearly 3,000 piles had to be driven to depths of up to 105 ft. with a bearing stress of up to 60 tons.

The individual blocks have been so designed that the gross depth of the R.C.C. frame is more than half the height of the buildings, thus minimizing the effect of wind pressure on this somewhat exposed site. Access is by means of a central corridor, but the line of flats on either side has been broken at regular intervals, so as to allow all rooms to be provided with windows, and to give excellent cross-ventilation in the individual flats. The R.C.C. frame has been designed so as to extend the gross width of the building, thus giving a more pleasing elevation, which would otherwise present extensive flat and uninteresting masses. The R.C.C. roofs are flat with water-proofing, with raised cement tiles on top.

OTHER FACILITIES

In addition to living accommodation, the estate also contains certain public facilities, situated on the ground floor of the West Court. These comprise an 18-classroom primary school (which, operating in two

14

Share This Page