Issue 7

In celebration of their Golden Jubilee in 1972173 members of the Lancashire and Cheshire Branch of the Institution generously endowed a Golden Jubilee Scholarship Fund. Grants amounting to some £400 are available every other year and offered to the member of the Branch who in the opinion of the Branch Committee can best make use of it for a study visit overseas to extend his skills as a structural engineer. The first scholarship in 1973 was awarded to Mr John Saunders who applied it to a study tour of Europe and reported upon his investigations into the structural use of asbestos cement.

The authors have provided some interesting data on a serviceability failure of deep beams which should prove invaluable to research workers and Code Committees concerned with this difficult problem. It would, however, increase the value ofthe paper if rather fuller details of the reinforcement of the beams could be provided so that shortcomings in the design could be properly assessed. R.Taylor, D. Campbell-Allen and R.G. Smith

I read the paper with interest and would like to make some comments from my experience in the construction and strengthening of these structures. B. Newsome

Authors' introduction: When writing a paper it is important to have a clear attitude as to whom one is writing for who will use it and, hopefully, learn from it.

The paper describes lateral loading tests carried out on six full sized single-leaf blockwork walls. The walls were in three sets, one of each set having its vertical edges simply supported and the other having continuity over its vertical edges. Two different block thicknesses were used. The tops of all the walls were unrestrained. C. Anderson

Mr. T. N. W. Akroyd (F): I have listened with interest to Dr. Bate, and whilst it is customary at this beginning of term to extend the Christmas spirit of goodwill to our discussions, I regret tonight's discussion hardly allows room for the Christmas euphoria to continue. The theme of Dr. Bate's introduction is, that workmanship clauses in Codes of Practice and the usual site inspections of workmanship under those Codes are unsatisfactory. I noted with a certain grim satisfaction that Dr. Bate has suggested that the drafting of workmanship clauses is open to commercial, political and other pressures.

Last month we published the first response we have had on design checking from an engineer working with a commercial firm engaged in 'design and build' activities. In it Mr. Ely commented on problems inherent in the arrangement where consulting engineers scrutinize design on behalf of an authority. We now have a letter from an engineer in the latter capacity. Mr. R. E. Brand comments: This letter is in response to your article in the April issue of The Structural Engineer. For the past two years, I have been responsible, through my firm-E.A.R. Sheppard Consultants-for the checking of structural designs and site supervision all on behalf of the Borough Engineer, Eastbourne. Verulam