JOURNAL

OF

THE ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE

The Influence of Building Regulations on Architecture, by II. D.

SEARLES-WOOD, F.R.I.B.A. (FELLOW).
The earliest building regulations are found in the laws of Iihaininuiabi.
JL
.
They are over 4,000 years old, and are as follows :-
ccxxviii. If a builder build a house l’or a man and complete it. llc
shall pay two shekels oi’ silver for each sar of surface.
cemil. If a builder build a house for a man and has not made his work
strong, and the house has fallen in and killed the owner of the house, then
that builder shall be put to death.
ccxxx. If it kill the son of the owner of the house, the son 0l~ that
builder they shall kill.
ccxxxi. If it kill tlte slave of the owner of the house, a slave equivalent
to that slave to the owner of the hoiise he shall give.
l’cxxxii. If the property of the owner of the house. it destroys, what-
sever it destroys he shall make good. and as regards the house he built and
it fell, with his own property he shall rebuild the ruined house.
-

ccxxxiii. If he build a house for a man and did not set his work, and:
the walls topple over. that builder from his own money shall make that wall
’

strong.
These Babylonian laws were based on the jus talio-iiis principle. A life
for a eye for an eye, a tooth for
life, an a tooth was the natural law of

life, and it is found in all communities.

I think, therefore, I
am justified in
saying that the first designer of
the pyramids had these laws in his mind, and he was not going to take
chances. You see under this code the builder’s family were very
any
directly interested in the stability of the work, and it must have required
an heroic effort to introduce a new feature that had the slightest

appearance of disturbing the repose of the structure. Buttresses were

popular, as may be supposed, and recessed panels. These early people
used hollow walls to keep the rooms in their dwelling-houses dry and cool,
built staircases, and, although it is not quite germane to this subject, it is
Interesting to note that the bricks they used were made to a standard size,

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542

ranging from 8 ~ by .1~ by 2~ inches to I>.6 by 4’9 by 3 inches. When

we were working out the Royal Institute of British Architects standard
size for bricks these were considered, and our standard size, 8Z by 4 A by
2g inches to 9 by 4g by 2)y; inches is, as you see, very nearly the same.
What this really means is that the handiest size for a Babylonian brick-
layer to handle all day long was the same as the British bricklayer finds
the easiest to handle to-day.
The XII. tables of Roman law contained several building regulations,
and as they were drawn up by a commission that collected statute laws
from Greece and other foreign countries, they may be taken as the
standard for the period. Only fragments of them are known, and they
chiefly relate to easements such as you were not allowed to have, dripping
eaves, ~Cc., and they do not appear to have made much mark on Roman
architecture.
In mediqeval England the domestic houses were built on traditional
lines, but how far these traditions were regulated by by-laws I cannot
say. The overhang, which is a common feature, and was first used in town
houses to protect the goods exposed on stall boards, and afterwards copied
in the country, where there was no likelihood of the houses having stall
boards, was regulated by by-laws, so that the projection should not inter-
fere with people riding through the streets on horseback.
In modern building regulations three things are considered-lst, the
prevention of the spread of fire; 2nd, the construction of the building to
guard the safety of the public ; and, 3rd, public health.
It is the regulations that deal with the prevention of the spread of fire
that has had the greatest influence on the architecture of the period.
The regulations passed after the great fire of London set the fashion
for brick and stone-fronted buildings, which altered the appearance of all
the towns in the kingdom, and in more recent times the Metropolitan
Building Act, which was the first set of building regulations that seriously
dealt with the problem of the prevention of the spread of fire, made
marked changes in the architecture of the nineteenth century. The
44-inch reveal to all windows and doors, and the restrictions as to barge
boards and wooden cornices and the parapets to the party walls, are the
marks of this set of regulations.
The rules laid down in the lletropolitan Building Act of 1854 for
dealing with the rights of the building and adjoining owners of a party
wall have worked so well that it is surprising no other city or town has
adopted the same system. The system is, briefly, as follows :-
When a building that has party walls is about to be rebuilt the building
owner serves on the adjoining owner of the party wall notices which
describe the work that is to be done to the party walls, and in this notice
the building owner appoints a surveyor to represent him. If the adjoining

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 543

owner does not agree within fourteen days of the service of the notice a
difference is said to have arisen, and the adjoining owner appoints a
surveyor to represent his interest, and theie two surveyors meet and
appoint a third surveyor.
The first two surveyors then examine the party structure and draw up
ain award in which is set out the work that has to be done, and when this
award is signed by the two surveyors it is published and the matter is
sett.led. Should the two surveyors not be able to agree on an award the
third surveyor is called in, and within seven days he has to appoint a day
for a hearing, and the three surveyors meet, and any two of them can
agree on an award, which when signed by the two is published and
becomes a binding document, only to be upset on appeal before a magis-
trate. The position of the third surveyor is not quite that of an arbitrator,
he is only equal in rank to the other two surveyors, but it has been found
to work well, and many awards are made by means of the third surveyor
wliich could not be made between the two surveyors in the first instance.
The third surveyor being quite impartial can complete the award which
one of the interested surveyors would not care to sign. This method of
dealing with a difficult situation is really good help architecture, and
a to
some such system should be part of the statute law. At present the law
un the subject is that the party structure is common to the two parties,
the building and the adjoining owner; it cannot be touched without the
assent of both parties, and there is no means of compelling this consent.
It is iu this respect that the London practice has such great advantages.
There is a tendency now-a-days to complain that the model by-laws
are too severe, and that they prevent the building of cheap cottages and

elementary schools. At the first exhibition of cheap cottages at Letch-

worth, the cottage that won the first prize was in accordance with the
model by-laws in every particular. In going round the numerous Garden
City developments, the only two things in the by-laws that appeared to
increase the cost were the height of the bed-room storeys, where 9 ft. is
insisted on, and the height of the studded walls, which is also regulated -
by this by-law. In places where the storey is 8 ft. the available area is
also increased, and there does not appear to be any serious sanitary point
in requiring H ft. storeys.
The Building Acts and model by-laws are all based on brick con-
struction ; the Introduction of skeleton steel construction and reinforced
concrete necessitates some changes in these Acts and by-laws.
The Royal Institute of British Architects have just issued a second
edition of the Regulations for Reinforced Concrete Construction, which
are the standard for such method of building in the British Empire. This
revised edition will be the basis of the Regulations about to be issued by
the London County Council, and will be dealt with very much on the

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544 Injluencc of Buz’ldiJ7[/ Regulations oil A1.cldtcctu?’e.

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 H. D. ~~~:ARL1:5-~VOOV. 545

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546

lines of their Regulations for Skeleton Steel Construction, in their Act

of 1909. The principle is that the calculations on which the steel
construction has been designed are submitted, with the drawings, to
the district surveyor, who checks the calculations before the plans are
approve. These calculations can be made in any form that is recognised
by the profession; but a good method of tabulating the calculations has
been drawn up by the District Surveyors’ Association and approved by
the Royal Institute of British Architects, and it is a great saving of time
and labour if the information is given by the architect to the district
surveyor in the form, copies of which are given on pages 544 and 545.
NOMENCLATURE.―1. Each pillar, etc., at which a load is concen-
trated, should be distinguished on the plans, etc., and pillar sheet by a
distinguishing number indicating its position on the plan, and by a
distinguishing letter indicating the floor that it supports.
2. Every point ;vertically over or under the numbered point on the plan
should be known by the same number and by quotation of the storey letter.
3. The numbers should be indicated on the plans and be enclosed in a
circle (to distinguish them from dimensions), and should as far as possible
begin at the left hand of the plan and follow across it in a continuous
numerical series, so as to show by consecutive figures the numbers that are
adjacent.
4. The floors should be distinguished by letters as follows :-A should
indicate the fluor of the ground or entrance storey; B should indicate the
floor of the storey next above A; C that next above B; and so on.
X should indicate the floor of the storey next below A ; Y the next below
$ ; and so on.
5. Every girder or beam should be distinguished by quotation of the
numbers at its two ends, or points of support, and the distinguishing
letter of the floor in which it is situated, and the reactions at the ends of
the girder or beam should be distinguished by the same numbers.
SYMBOLS.-In all formulae and calculations the following uniform
symbols should be used :-
A area of cross section in square inclies ; At area of flange of beam or girder,
in square inches; A, area of web of beam or girder, in square inches; B maxi-
mum bending moment, inch-tons, = Yy Z f MR ; Bllb......,.z do., do., at
in = =
&dquo;’

any point ; b breadth, in inches ; c Compressive stress, intensity ; C Total

compressive force or stress ; d depth, in inches; e Eccentricity of any load, in
inches; f Extreme fibre stress, in tons per square inch ; h height, in inches ;
H do., in feet; I Moment of Inertia of the section, in inches&dquo; A r2 ; 1., h do.,=

do., about axes x and y ; I length of beam or girder, or height of column

in inches ; L do., do., in feet; MR Moment of Resistance, in inch-tons,
0 Overturning moment; p Pressure or load, in tons per

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 547
square inch ; P Total pressure or lad, in tons; r Radius of Gyration, in
in inches, r =
tion at
~~; r=,
ry. du., do., about axes .>. and y ; Rl, R2, R,, &c., Reac-
of support of beams or girders, in tons ; s shearing stress,
points
intensity ; S Total shearing force or stress ; t Tensile stress, intensity ; T Total
tensile force or stress: w Weight, per foot run, of load on beam or girder, in
tons per foot run; w’ Weight, per foot run, of section, in lbs. = 3.4 A, for
steel; W Total weight of load on beam or girder, in tons; y Distance of
extreme fibre of section from tbe neutral axis, in inches; Z Section modulus, in

inches3 =~;y ~ Deflection of beam or girder, in inches; &dquo;’114 Summation sign.

The Regulations for Reinforced Concrete give the tests to be applied
in selecting the materials and the methods of calculating the various parts
of the building, the method of mixing the materials, and the precau-
tions that have to be taken in preparing the centring and carrying out the
work.
Some people are of the opinion that the time has come when there
should be a general Building Act for the whole country; let us hope if
this comes to pass that it may be so drawn as not to stereotype existing
methods of construction, but stimulate new and better methods than at
present. It might be a good thing to encourage architects to work out
the strains and stresses in their structures by making a law that thc
methods of calculating the designs should be submitted to the District,
Surveyor, and if found correct the construction sliould be allowed, and
thus do away with all those cast-iron schedules and rules that. so often
hamper an original design.
MR. J. SLATER (London) said that architects might congratulate themselves
that the old Babylonian by-laws are no longer in operation. Mr. Searles-QPood
had been rather reticent as to the effect of building legislation on architecture.
Liberal by-laws did good, but too stringent ones had a depressing effect on
architecture. As to mediaeval building regulations eaves were protected on
the sides, because as there were no eaves gutters there had to be a space
between the houses, on which space the rain-water from the roof could fall ;-;
this was called a Twitchell. and these still existed in some places. Building
regulations must not be too detailed. No regulations could meet all cases, and
some discretion should be allowed.

MR. J. S. BILODIE (Blackpool) said he would welcome anything which would

have the effect of simplifying the laborious duty of administering the building
by-laws. He considered it would be a mistake for any new Building Act to
come up for the whole country laying down minutely what ought to be done.

They could only lay down general principles which would cover the safety of
the building and the health of the people who had to live in it.
’

MR. EDWIN T. HALL (London) thought it was not desirable to make

such minute regulations that it was impossible to get any development or

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548
evolution in plan or construction; so that personally he did not like the idea of
adopting for ordinary buildings such regulations, as in London were proposed
for steel structures or reinforced buildings. Given a wise and competent
public official to administer the Act, discretion should be given to the archi-
tect in design of all detail. It was only where the narrow and incompetent
sur veyor was concerned that trouble arose in drastic regulations. With regard
to light and air, it would be very desirable if the procedure of the London
Building Act in regard to party walls were adopted. The building owner
appointed one surveyor, the adjoining owner another, and both appointed v
t.hird..Any two of them could make the binding award. Such a court, with an
appeal to a tribunal consisting of a barrister, an architect, aud a surveyor, would
save a lot of litigation and trouble.

Mn. H. A. CUTLLR (Belfast) said the advent of ferro-concrete had enormously

increased the labours of municipal surveyors because of the difficulty of making
the necessary calculations. If this material continued to enjoy increasing
popularity he should have to get an addition to his staff to enable him to deal
with the scienLi6c problems which arose. As to the building by-laws, he thought
the more cast iron they were the better. There were not many by-laws for
ordinary buildings which interfered with the architect. 1’lie majority of
buildings in any town or city were not put up for architectural beauty, and
by-laws were necessary for the control of men who were not so accustomed to
architectural problems as the architects attending that Congress. He could
understand the architect’s point of view, but when it came to the jerry-builder
and the many owners of property who did not employ an architect, it was neces-
sary that they should have hard-and-fast regulations. The regulations might
sometimes operate rather harshly in regard to buildings designed by fully qualified
architects, but on the other hand they were most beneficial in dealing with the
other men of whom he had spoken. By-laws were also a protection to the com-
mittee concerned with the passing of plans, because they were bound by them, and
could not therefore yield to the importunities of unscrupulous persons who might
try to get behind the back of the surveyor. In Belfast, although they had not had
any by-laws for regulating steel frame and ferro-concrete buildings, they bad used
such discretion as was necessary in dealing with those structures. They had not
enforced the by-laws with regard to the thickness of walls, and had allowed
discretion to those who wished to use such materials as were not contemplated
when the by-laws were drafted. When they had a reasonable body of men to
deal with, architects need not be afraid of by-laws.
I1I~,. G. WILLIAM LACEY (Oswestry) said that, with Mr. Slater, he failed to
see many points in Mr. Searles-Wood’s paper which indicated in what way
building regulations influenced architecture, at any rate prejudicially. He
agreed with Alr. Cutler as regards the operation of the building by-laws. The
by-laws provided for the safe construction of buildings, and they were for the
most part the minimum of requirements necessary, whereas in some instances
they were below what ought to be the minimum for the benefit of the public
health and the health of occupiers. It was now necessary that the Local

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 549
Government Board should issue Regulations with regard to new forms of
construction, such as steel construction and ferro-conerete, which are not
covered by the present code of by-laws, and thus enable local authorities 1 U
correctly approve of this
increasing type of building.
Mn. H. GILBERT ’VHYA1’T (Grimsby) thought that perhaps the question of
by-laws could be best settled if there were four codes :-two for London and
two for the provinces. The first of each might be in general terms, to suit the
best class of architect and bulder ; the other should be most particular and
definite in its terms, in order to apply to builders &dquo;of the baser sort&dquo; who,
whatever the minimum requirement of the by-law, would find some means of
building below its provisions. ’1’he style of building was so different in London
from that in the provinces, the class of bricks was so different, the height of
dwellings was so different, that separate codes for London and the provinces
were desirable.

SiR HENRY TANNER, C.B. (London), although practically free from by-laN%-s
so far as his own work was considered, said he was in favour of latitude as far as
possible in all by-laws, so that they could be amended and altered from time to
time; and in the case of reinforced concrete, they could not make rues which
would cover everything. He preferred dealing with each case on its merits as
it arose. They could build cheap buildings in ferro-concrete, and consequently
that was a form of construction which was bound to be largely used. the only
matter on which the Government came under the London Building Act was in
regard to party wall,, and he would like to see more authority given to the
third surveyor who was appointed to deal with disputes. He would like to sec
the third man make up his mind more quickly and give a decision.
3IR. P. C. CUWAX (Local Government Board for Ireland) observed that
on his shoulders fell the duty of revising the general building by-laws for
Ireland, which followed the English code very closely. He submitted that
the building by-laws could have no prejudicial effect on any reputable archi-
tect’s practice, and he was certain from experience that any relaxation with
regard to ordinary buildings would be a great mistake. ~1s to reinforced con-
crete buildings, he admitted the impossibility of framing short, crisp by-laws
for them, and agreed that it was better to have full plans with calculations sub-
mitted for the approval of the local authority. Except in one or two large
towns there was no power in Ireland to waive the by-laws, although some
authorities did so without any legal authority.
Mit. J. ML’NCE (Belfast) said that in Belfast they built houses for people to
ldue in and not to look- at. Architects generally thought that the elevation of
their building was the only thing to be considered, and forgot that there were
such things as by-laws and frontage lines to be complied with. 8till, as a rule
it was not with architects they had trouble, but men who tried to do the work
themselves, without the advice of a professional man.
)In. SE~$LE~-~VUO~, in reply, said he would not attempt to answer the many
matters ruiscd, but as an old district surveyor he was 111 favour of by-laws.

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