An extensive investigation into the relative costs of the more popular form of single-storey steel structures has been undertaken, the results of which should prove useful to the design engineer at the preliminary, even final, stages of a project involving single-storey construction. J.F. Horridge and L.J. Morris
Birthday honours Council have offered warm congratulations to Mr John Derrington, FEng (a Past President of both the Institution and the Institution of Civil Engineers) who was made a CBE in the Birthday honours list and to Mr Guy Barrett (F) (President, British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd.) who received the OBE.
Mr R. J. M. Sutherland (F) (Harris & Sutherland): It would be hard not to agree with all that Andrew Beeby has said. I would just like to swing the emphasis a bit.
Following the article in the May 1986 issue of The Structural Engineer (p137), the proposed layouts for each of the six floors in the Institution headquarters building at 11 Upper Belgrave Street are now shown.
The third weekend visit of the Institution’s ‘History of Structural Engineering’ Study Group took place in the Newcastle area on 4-7 July 1985. The arrangements were made locally by R. W. (Bob) Rennison and, as previously, by Julia Elton and John Bancroft from London. On the first evening we had an excellent biographical talk by Bob Rennison on ‘Engineers of the north-east’. His list of engineers was long, the connections with the region varied, and the names often (but not always) well known. Smeaton, the two Stephensons, Fairbairn, and William (Lord) Armstrong, have been amply recognised by posterity but, for instance, Chapman, Harrison, the Greens, and Blackmore, are less well known.
Despite the recent publication of new, revised and draft Codes of Practice for the structural use of various materials, the debate over the most suitable form for such documents does not lessen. To a degree, there is always likely to be argument as long as one document seeks to meet a range of contrasting requirements of, for example, designers and checkers, comprehensiveness and limitation of scope, continuity of approach, and response to new knowledge and developments. J.F.A. Moore
Joints in steel frames In April Mr Denis Wall queried the detailing of knee joints in portal frames, with reference to the BCSA publication, Details of single-bay single-storey portal frame sheds. Mr L. H. Lewis of Banstead, Surrey, has now provided us with the following commentary: If we consider the column alone, with the rafter removed, and we replace the rafter with the forces it imposes on the column, we have the arrangement shown in Fig 1. Verulam