May_1971 — Page 20

In Britain

System building counters rising costs

WITH ever increasing labour costs, Bri- tain's construction industry is seeking ways to combat the situation by using less men on site, so that in the future - with a programme of some 350,000 houses per year and an anticipated in crease in demand for new schools, hos- pitals, factories, roads, and airports it will be possible to produce more buildings, linked by better communi- cation facilities, with the same or a re- duced labour force.

In the period 1959-69, wages and salaries in the building industry dou- bled and, with a 26 per cent three- stage labour award in February 1970 spread over a comparatively short period of 18 months, the rising trend of wages is even steeper. Thus, clients in both the public and private sectors can no longer afford to ignore the pro- gressively increasing cost advantages of construction methods aimed at saving site labour and construction time call it 'system', 'industrialised' or 'component' building.

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The building industry in Britain is, therefore, becoming progressively more capital and less labour intensive, using small groups of skilled men to erect high quality, dimensionally co- ordinated components with sophis- ticated machinery to construction pro- grammes carefully planned and speedi- ly executed.

In short, spiralling labour costs are being countered by increased use of in- dustrialised building methods, backed by improved management, better plan- ning techniques and early co-operation by the whole design/build team and greater mechanisation.

Overall financial advantages

In Britain, some 40 per cent of public sector houses, 45 per cent of schools and an ever increasing propor- tion of hospitals, crown offices, bar- racks, private, commercial and indus- trial buildings are constructed by in- dustrialised building methods.

It is not just a case of initial capital

by John M. Gillham

cost (where already in 1969 indus trialised housing had shown a cost breakthrough of 5.4 per cent saving for high rise and 2.2 per cent saving for low rise dwellings over traditional methods) but the overall financial ef- fect on a major scheme arising from earlier completion with industrialised building methods. The advantages can be considerable, taking into account reduction in interest payments on bor. rowed money for funding both land and buildings over the shorter contract period, coupled with reduced pay- ments for increased costs of labour and material, and earlier rent revenue.

In an effort to standardise public sector housing, the former Ministry of Housing and Local Government (now part of the new Department of the En- vironment) issued spatial and per- formance standards for single, two, three, four and five person dwellings and the National Building Agency a range of 'house shells', suggesting as a 'guide line' economically alternative house plan arrangements for different sized dwellings.

This information, coupled with housing 'cost yardsticks' giving the permitted costs of different sized dwellings, enabled competing contrac- tors, offering either 'traditional' or 'system' methods, to make their own submissions against a site layout, speci- fied densities and mixture of house types required.

'Heavy and dry' large concrete panel systems have been used success- fully for 'walk-up' four and five-storey flats and maisonettes and for medium and high rise dwellings. These systems, with the load generally carried by the internal cross and spine walls, permit freedom of elevational treatment. Ser- vices and inserts such as windows and door frames are incorporated in the appropriate precast concrete panels in

Five-storey medical and paediatric block at the West Middlesex Hospital just outside London, the factory, which are finished with a built by the 'Intergrid' system

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smooth fair face, eliminating the need

Far East BUILDER, May 1971

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