The Effect of Existing Regulations on Pillar Design in Steel-framed Buildings

The President, proposing a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Creswell for having put the matter so clearly before the members, said he was wondering when structural engineers would have the opportunity to acquire legal knowledge in addition to all the scientific knowledge they must possess; perhaps the matter was one which might be placed before the Institution’s Board of Examiners. Mr W.C.Cocking(Past Member of Council) paid a tribute to Mr. Creswell in respect of his very happy knack of drawing the attention of professional men to various matters, often of very great importance, but which had previously escaped their attention, and said that the paper referred to many matters which professional men did not often consider.

It has been felt for a long time by those with much practical experience that the statutory requirements governing the employment of structural steel in buildings were quite unnecessarily onerous and tended to produce structures unnecessarily expensive, in which the economic benefit to be derived from the proper employment of constructional steel was to a large extent lost. Consulting engineers in particular have been in revolt against this attitude for many years, and have been firmly convinced that a lower standard of strength, i.e., smaller floor loads and higher stresses ought to be permitted. This view was also taken by the Steelwork Association, who took the long view that if steel buildings could be really economically designed with limitations imposed only by physical requirements and not by indefensible statutory requirements, it would in-the long run benefit industry from every angle. In conformity with this general idea of cheapening building with steel and doing whatever research was necessary to define authoritatively the proper standard in regard to all matters in connection with its employment, the Committee of Council, after con- sulting the Institution of Civil Engineers,arranged for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to arrange for this scheme of co-operative investigations.

The future will always hold interest for those who are full of vigour and enterprise and, as a comparatively young and very progressive Institution, we are looking forward with an intense interest to the future and the possible developments in Structural Engineering. It is not intended to put forward any attempt at a prophecy, but rather to indicate in some manner the developments which are at present in their infancy, and search among these for guidance as to the direction in which some headway is likely to be made in the near future. A Lakeman