The New Commerzbank Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany

The last two years witnessed the occurrence of two major earthquakes (Northridge, California, 1994 and Hyogo-Ken Nanbu, Japan, 1995) which resulted in an unexpected level of damage in areas where earthquake design is amongst the most developed in the world. Another recent development is the move towards a European standard for earthquake resistance of structures (Eurocode 8 or EC8) which has lead to more coordination between the various European researchers. It is against this background that the fifth SECED conference on European seismic design and practice took place on 26-27 October, 1995, in Chester, UK. F. Hamdan

Mr A.C. G. Hayward (F) (Cass Hayward & Partners) The paper demonstrates that, at a 1:10 change in direction of a bottom flange in a tapered beam, stiffeners may not be necessary, provided the web is not too slender ...

Publication, almost 2 years ago, of Sir Michael Latham’s report Constructing the Team initiated a searching examination of contracting policy within the industry as well as at Government level. John. D. Allen