October_1965 — Page 9

world news

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Building Licencing May Affect £180 m. UK Projects

ACCORDING to the UK Ministry of Public Building and Works' estimates, the licensing system introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer for building projects over £100,000 will affect £180 million worth of contracts, in- volving some 500 major schemes.

The licensing will affect nearly three-fifths of private sector building, but will not touch projects in development areas, industrial building and housing. Although priority. will be given to drafting the required legislation, the Bill may not become law before next January. This means that builders, architects and developers could face many months of delay and uncertainty.

It is expected that the Bill will be flexibly framed to allow the Minister of Public Building and Works. Mr. Charles Pannell, to alter at a later date. the £100,000 contract figure above which licences will be necessary. and also the types of development and the areas to be excluded from licensing.

The controls will probably follow the lines of the office development permits provided for in recently en- acted legislation. The Government subscribes to the view that the controls will prevent overloading of some sec- tions of the industry and help to redeploy resources to where they are most needed.

Housing Project in the Desert

A NEW town, Isa Town, is being developed in the desert of Bahrain to house 35,000 people nearly a quarter of the entire population of the State.

The project was begun in 1962, when Sheikh Isa Bin Sulman Al Khalilah, Ruler of Bahrain, published a decree setting up a new Department of Housing and Settlement. charged with the construction of the new town.

George Wimpey and Co. Ltd., London, won the contract for designing and managing the construction of the scheme which is to include traffic free shopping cen- tres, schools, health centres, cinema and sports stadium, as well as housing.

Nearly 350 modern houses are already completed and arrangements have been made for the tenants to own their own houses when building costs are repaid. The land is the gift of the Ruler and services are being installed free of charge by the state.

24-Storey Building for Air India

CONSTRUCTION work has begun in Bombay on a 24-storey building which will house the city air terminal and ad- ministrative headquarters of Air India.

Fully air-conditioned, the building will have a total built up area of 5,500,000 sq. ft. Its 330 ft. high struc- ture, one of the tallest in the country, will provide an unrestricted view of the Arabian Sea and the Malabar Hill.

The Rodio-Marconi Bentonite process, employed for the diaphragm wall is being used for the first time in Bombay. The open trenching process, which ordinarily would have been used for construction of such a wall, would involve huge excavation, dumping mounds of earth

Far East Architect & Builder October, 1965

***AGUILARINHHATARDISINS VANOS LAIKIKINIGUNA I U PRINCE SKORUMAS

Air India's proposed terminal, Bombay

on the site and back filling after the completion of the work. The new process does away with open trench excavation. formwork for the wall and shoring the trenches.

An American firm, Holabird and Root, are the ar chitects for the scheme. P. Kudianavala and Associates, Bombay, are the associate architects and are responsible for the design of the hydro-mechanical and electrical systems. Consultants for the structure, air conditioning and ventilation are Shroff and Tembe, and Mr. Maneck Dastur.

The building is expected to be completed by the end of 1968.

Prestressed Motorway Bridge Over the Rhine

ONE of the most interesting structures in Germany is the new motorway bridge over the Rhine at Bendorf, five miles north of Coblenz. With a total length of 3,378 ft. the bridge is claimed to be the longest prestressed con- crete beam bridge in the world.

The Dywidag prestressing system, based on the can- tilever method of construction, was used. The bridge consists of the main section over the navigable arm of the Rhine, 1,662 ft. long, and a 1.656 ft. long approach viaduct. Total width of the bridge is 100 ft. with 24 ft. wide dual carriageways, a 10 ft. wide central reservation. four marginal strips of 2 ft., a 9 ft. wide parking strip

New prestressed concrete bridge at Bendorf, Germany

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