The New Grandstand at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

A correspondent in commenting on legal liability in the April 1977 column referred to a case then being considered in the House of Lords. It was the case of Anns and others v Merton London Borough Council. Judgement has now been given which seems likely to re-open the flood gates of litigation to which he referred. Briefly the decision is that a Council has a duty to inspect a site (the issue was about damage caused by settlement due to poor foundations); if the Council fails to do so, or if the inspection is negligent, the Council has a liability if something goes wrong. Further, the plaintiff, has six years from the time the damage appeared in which to make his case and the plaintiff can be the present owner of the damaged property and not the original purchaser. Since this is a ruling by the highest court of the land it is a precedent which only legislation by Parliament can change. Verulam

The President: Once in every four years we have the Olympic Games and whatever arguments and difficulties the Olympic movement may go through, it presents to the engineering world an opportunity to undertake structures of a magnitude and complexity which does not occur on any other occasion. There are a handful of engineers who are lucky enough and able enough to be chosen as consulting engineers for these projects.

The President: You mention in the paper that there is quite a range of strengths I think between 100-800 M N/,m2. Would you like to say something about the reasons? Is it the proportion of the glass fibres or is the size of the fibres?