The Late Mr. P.J. Black

It is reasonable to say that our modern civilisation has been built on a foundation of Iron and Steel. The multitudinous uses to which they have been put have caused engineers and those whose duty it is to safeguard and preserve them, to realise how difficult it is to suppress the destructive processes of corrosion. The belief that corrosion was practically inevitable had led to a customary and arbitrary increase in metallic thickness beyond that functionally required, and to an instinctive avoidance of exposed metallic surfaces in buildings of a permanent nature. David W. James-Carrington

This month's letters include the answer to a two-year-old mystery wall query and the Venezuela earthquake and the role of no-fines concrete.

The building control regime in Scotland provides a level of rigour that Victoria Tinney finds reassuring; two years since establishing her own practice in Glasgow, she talks to Helena Russell about the Scottish building warrant system and the power of sketching.