We are currently carrying out a structural inspection and repair to a brick built railway bridge in North London.
Our client expressed concerns over the visible cracking and bowing present to the structure of which carries high speed trains into central London so it was vital that we acted quickly in order to carryout the inspection, design and implement a suitable structural repair scheme.
Bridge-reinforcement
To save time and cost in scaffold we opted to use our van mounted cherry picker that will enable our installation to be carried out rapidly, in less time that it would take to erect scaffolding.
The spandrel is suffering from de-lamination causing in some brickwork to fall from the masonry arch severely weakening the structure. the sofit which carries and distributes the loads of the masonry arch was showing signs of racking caused by vibration allowing water to penetrate into the structure causing defective pointing. the brick pier was also suffering from major cracking and separation.
We will be installing Twistfix helical beams at 300mm centres horizontally accross the masonry arch creating a grid pattern with the bars drilled 1.5m into the supporting pillars providing a reinforced structure distributing the loads. and over 4000 1.5m grout ties will be installed through the sofit into the arch pinning the sofit and preventing further delamination.
the works will be carried out so that the bridge remains fully functional and the road remains open and accessible.
At Newman’s we carry out a large volume of wall tie surveys across London and the South coast to properties that have had a wall tie failure of the original wall ties, but ever increasingly we are receiving more and more inquiries for wall tie surveys after new remedial wall ties have been installed, and failed.
There are many different wall ties available on the market to diy’ers and untrained installers who see the installation as simple as drilling a hole, tightening an expander or using a resin or mastic to fix the wall tie.
In principal installation is simple, specification of an appropriate tie is also fairly simple, but to do it correctly and install a lasting permanent solution isn’t if you are not experienced.
for instance here is a tie installed by a ‘reputable’ cavity wall insulation company who decided they would install wall ties to 9 retirement bungalows…..
Failed Wall Tie
The wall tie has smashed the brick in half losing all bearing within the brick and it was found to be fixed with a red flexible caulk type mastic. This is a prime example of remedial wall tie installation carried out by untrained persons who unfortunately have failed to restore the structural integrity.
Wall ties are a vital part of your structure and should only be installed by experienced contractors.
A Local Authority Owned House, otherwise known as a council house is a form of social housing provided by the state originally intended for working class people at an affordable rental rate to solve Britain’s housing problem.
One of the first ‘council estates’ built was the Boundary Estate in the East End of London. It was opened in the early 1900’s and is now a Grade Two Listed structure. In 1919 David Lloyd George launched a campaign to build ‘homes for heroes’, this was to be housing suitable for returning soldiers and funding was secured from the government. The Second World War intervened with the house building programme and it wasn’t until after the second war had finished the council house hey-day began.
Typical LAU Housing
Its estimated that around 4 million British homes were destroyed leaving many people homeless, the government provided large amounts of funding to provide new homes and suburban estates and introduced the New Towns Act 1946 which would shape the social housing we see today.
There was a small number of high rise developments introduced in large cities such as Kingston upon Hull, Birmingham and Coventry our focus in this blog is the social housing within London and the south East.
Typically across London’s sub-urban housing estates two and three bedroom semi -detached properties were built with a front and rear garden, hot running water and private indoor toilets and bathrooms. Inner city developments didn’t follow suit with many 3-4 storey low level flats being built albeit to similar standards of construction and private bathrooms and toilets. High rise structures were deemed more suitable for areas of inner city slum reform with prefabricated ‘system building’ being implemented for the design and construction of high rise developments.
Low Level Flats Structurally Restored By NBS in London
Many High Rise tower blocks have been subject of sub-standard build and problems have arose with these structures such as the ingress of damp, structural defects and huge concern over their ability to with stand unexpected forces such as a gas explosion which is what happened at Ronan Point in East London in 1968.
Council housing declined rapidly during the ‘Thatcher era’ with the ‘right to buy’ scheme being introduced, laws were put in place preventing the proceeds of property sales and local taxes being invested into the councils housing stock causing the properties to have a rapid decline in structural integrity.
Council estates within London and The south East are still standing and with investment from the decent homes project providing key funding to bring the dwellings to a decent standard of living will ensure the properties suffice. Newman’s have played a key role within the decent homes standard and are proud to have brought many properties on estates up to standard.
We have worked with councils and housing associations in order to upkeep and reform their housing stock bringing back to life many void properties for use as homes once again. As well as void properties Newman’s has extensive experience and contracting skills whilst restoring tenanted properties.
