An Introduction to EC3

The Building Regulations - to be treated with caution? In his paper ‘The Building Regulations safe span tables for timber members’ published in The Structural Engineer for 18 May, the author, Dr J. B. Bellamy, expressed reservations regarding the adequacy of some of the guidance contained therein with respect to the design of sitecut roofs. Owen Hope, of Bradfiwd, tells us that, prompted by this article, he has borrowed from an architect friend a copy of ‘The Building Regulations, explained and illustrated’. This has resulted in his casting doubt on the validity or adequacy of the treatment accorded therein to a number of other matters: The timber tables are very comprehensive but fraught with traps for the unwary. There is no mention of trimmer beams, continuous spans, etc. Verulam

Howard Taylor will succeed Jack Waller as President of the Institution 1993-4 at an Ordinary Meeting at Institution headquarters on 7 October 1993. The handover will be at 6 pm when the new President will deliver his Presidential address ‘What was Troy to this?’, the full text of which will be published in The Structural Engineer in November.

History of the palace In 1529, Cardinal Wolsey gave his home at Hampton Court to King Henry VIII, in an attempt to win the King's favour. William and Mary, who came to the throne in 1689, found the old Tudor buildings too dark and draughty, and commissioned the Surveyor General of the King's Works, Sir Christopher Wren, to design a new and modem Palace. Wren's original design would have resulted in the demolition of most of the original Tudor buildings, save the Great Hall. However, this scheme did not materialise, and the final scheme (rather less ambitious) - a brick and stone building on the site of the Cloister Green, surrounding what was to become known as Fountain Court - was constructed. King William's apartments were situated to the north and Queen Mary's to the south. Wren carefully related his design with the surrounding Tudor buildings and employed notable craftsmen and artists, of whom Grinling Gibbons, the carver, Antonio Verrio, the painter, and Jean Tijou, the ironsmith, were among the most prominent. R. Dixon and P. Taylor