Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have storey height external corner
and separating wall capping posts
acting as permanent shuttering for the
in situ frame (Figure 3.20).
The systems used exclusively for
low-rise dwellings include Dorran
(Tarran), Dyke, Myton, Stent, and
Stonecrete. The Dorrans have a
characteristic protruding band at first
floor level formed by a precast
concrete unit with a sloping external
surface (Figure 3.21). The panels are
16 inches wide. Dykes have a similar
projecting band, but are of post-and-
panel at 2 foot centres. The other
three systems in this group also have
narrow bands at first floor level, but
these do not project. The Stonecretes
are post-and-panel at 2 foot 6 inch
centres, while the other two are
narrow panel with no posts. The
Stents have one foot wide panels and
the Mytons 16 inch.
Two other typical examples of low-
rise systems employing precast
concrete panels were the Firmcrete
and Quickbuild systems. The
Firmcrete system of constructing
'brickless houses' used chemically
impregnated cement-bonded
chipboard slabs. These sandwich
slabs have a concrete core, and
formed the separating and external
walls which rested on concrete
footings and the foundation slab. The
wall slabs were each 2 inches thick
and the cavity was 5 inches wide.
In the Quickbuild system, external
surfaces of wall panels sometimes
were clad with brickbond tiling and
ribbed aluminium, with precast
concrete for the ground floor.
Expanded polystyrene slabs were
inserted between internal and
external leaves to decrease the
U value
(135)
.
Primary stanchions of two RSCs welded
together to form hollow box
Secondary framing of
3 in x 1
1
/
2
in RSCs
1
/
2
in
diameter
steel rods
Steel, low-rise, concrete panel clad
systems
This group includes the following
systems: Bell Livett, Coventry,
Cussins (Figure 3.22), Gateshead,
Hitchins, Livett Cartwright, Open
System and Steane.
The Bell Livett, Coventry,
Gateshead, Hitchins, Open System
and Steane systems were built in
relatively small numbers, and are not
dealt with here.
Cussins dwellings were clad in
concrete panels, and, for the most
part, faced with stack bonded clay
slips simulating bricks (Figure 3.23).
They can be distinguished from
Smith system dwellings since the
latter's clay slips are in stretcher bond
carried across the panel joints. Livett
Cartwrights are all in the Leeds area,
Panel restraint hooks
Brick slip-faced reinforced
concrete panels
Semi-engineering brick substructure.
Some examples have a reinforced
concrete ring beam sandwiched
between two half brick leaves
Figure 3.22
Details of the Cussins system
and are characterised by the very tall,
narrow (16 inches) cladding panels.
Basic structure
The steel frame of the steel framed
systems is normally of small-section
rolled steel. The Livett-Cartwright
system is a typical example of the
genre. The outer stanchions are
mainly two storey, 5 inches
3
inches, connected by horizontal 7
inches
×
Storey height 16 in wide precast concrete panels
lined internally with bituminous felt
Flanged precast
concrete panels
into which in situ
columns and ring
beams were cast
Hollow precast
concrete floor units
×
3 inches and 6 inches
×
3 inches
rolled steel channels clad with storey
height reinforced concrete panels, the
corner panels being L-shaped. The
walls are lined with prefabricated
plasterboard-faced timber panels, and
the cavity contains a 1 inch thick,
thermal insulation glass fibre
quilt
(136)
.
In the reinforced concrete columns
(of those systems using concrete),
because of the relatively small
dimensions of the column, the cover
to the reinforcement tended to be
minimal. This led to corrosion rather
more rapidly than was at first
anticipated.
(Details of other systems are
available in other reports in the series
- see the full CRC catalogue
(11)
).
Precast concrete protruding
band forming permanent
shuttering to in situ ring
beam
Timber floor
panels
strapped to
ring beam
Cellulose fibreboard
sheet internal lining
Flanged precast concrete
kerb units on cast in situ
concrete strip foundations
Concrete raft
Figure 3.20
Details of the Reema low-rise system
Figure 3.21
Details of the Dorran system
