Works are underway on our latest Structural Repair project in Greenwich, South EastLondon. After completing our detailed structural survey our in house engineers designed a specification to restore the structural integrity of the bay window on this Victorian terrace property. Our specification included the installation of deep bed masonry helical beams, crack stitches and lateral restraint ties together with stone repairs to the window cills and deep bed repointing to large areas of the existing brick work combined with grout injection. All repairs will be covered by our genuine 10 year insurance backed warranty. For further details about this project contact us today.
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.
That phrase is commonly heard within the Newman’s office, being a common problem to Victorian and Edwardian built properties we are able to offer modern methods of structural repair to prevent and restrain outward movement.
Bowing House in Need of Restraint
Bowing walls are caused by a lack of lateral restraint, which allows the masonry panels to move independently often outwards severely weakening the structural integrity of the property.
This is often evident at the levels of the masonry where the floor joists run in accordance to the floor and ceiling joists. Tying into the floor and ceiling joists is essential in repairing and restraining the movement and traditional tie bars which are visible on many period properties are no longer required.
Lateral Restraint Ties
Newman’s utilise the Twistfix Heliforce system providing lateral restraint by inserting 1.0m, 1.5m or 2.0m ties into the floor and ceiling joists with a resin fix into the brick work providing an almost invisible repair once aesthetic brick repairs have been carried out. Incorporating lateral restraint ties with helical bar creating deep masonry beams and replacement wall ties remove the need for expensive intrusive and dangerous remove and rebuild techniques that may have been previously used.
Author: Jon Newman
Posted:
Categories: Bowing Walls
