The paper documents the design of First City Tower, Houston, Texas, which incorporates steel and concrete in six combinations to give a composite building. The design concepts and details employed have resulted in economy of the total building cost by reducing the tonnage of steel used in the structural frame and by speeding the erection process. Auxiliary studies (wind tunnel, dynamics, (he monitoring of building settletnent and column length shortening) are described. B. S. Taranath
The attention of members is drawn to the item ‘Building Regulations’ that appears in Institution Notes on page 270. The following is the full text of the consultative paper issued by the Department of the Environment on which the views of the nstitution have been invited by 20 September. The Council wish to have observations from all members interested, not only on the proposals but whether, if private certification under the Building Regulations was introduced as outlined, they would themselves be available, at the request of the client, to become ‘the certifier’.
Following general discussions in 1981 on changes in the Building Regulations (CMND 8179; The future of building control in England and Wales) the Department of the Environment last May invited comments on two consultative documents: The FORM of future Regulations; and their CONTENT. On behalf of the Council the President has authorised that the following observations be sent to the Department as reflecting views of the Institution. The comments have been drawn up by the Working Party appointed by the Council under the Chairmanship of Mr R. J. M. Sutherland (Vice-president). The Department has proposed that the Regulations themselves should be confined to broad functional requirements purely expressive of their tasks.
Clifford Evans, Senior Partner, Wallace Evans & Partners, Consulting Engineers (based in Penarth, South Wales, and with offices, also, in London, North Wales, Scotland, Jamaica, Hong Kong and the Middle East), will succeed Tom Akroyd as President of the Institution 1982-83. The changeover comes on Thursday 7 October 1982 when, at an Ordinary Meeting at 11 Upper Belgrave Street, London SWlX SBH, at 6pm, Mr Evans will give his Presidential Address ‘Structural engineering- what and whither?’. The full text will appear in The Structural Engineer, December 1982.
Surface transport systems are big users of land. The exclusive use of land for transport in urban areas can create large, sterile spaces and yet this land is potentially very valuable. The construction of the mass transit railway in Hong Kong has provided a number of opportunities for integrated development. This paper describes such a development at Tsuen Wan where a township of 20 000 people was established above the maintenance workshops and stabling yards of the mass transit railway. The initial planning concept is described and details are given of the design and construction of the main depot building and the residential tower blocks. In particular, details are given of the wind tunnel test carried out on the superstructure, and the structural analysis of the reinforced concrete shear wall structures of the residential blocks. John Burrows and David Croft John Burrows and David Croft
CP3: Chapter V: Part 2: 1972 A letter from Mr D. J, Ascough covered a number of points that have been aired in previous issues. In June 1982 this column set out three of the examples he presented to show that it is possible to build an unsafe building and comply with traditional Codes of Practice. His fourth example was set out thus: Although by no means as serious as the previous examples, the discrepancies in CP 3: ChV: 1972 deserve wider publicity. Depending on whether they are obtained from Table 10 or are taken as the aggregate of Cpe from Table 7, the wind forces used for the design of a frame can vary by 20 % without extrapolation, and more if Table 7 values are extrapolated. This is an unsatisfactory state of affairs! Are designs based on Table 7 unsafe, or those on Table 10 ultraconservative? Verulam