100 years of CABE: A look back at 1985

We look through the annals of the journal from 1985 to see what the hot topics of the day were, what was facing the industry and how CABE’s professional membership responded.

Architect & Surveyor 1985

Yes, you read that correctly, at this point Building Engineer was Architect & Surveyor and it was the bi-monthly publication for the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors, with HQ being Jubilee House, not yet Lutyens House. Its 38-year-old President was E C Grace and the issue features his inauguration.

The journal opens with a professional development opportunity in the form of a ‘Fire – means of escape’ seminar for members to mark the Association’s 60-year jubilee (an anniversary yearbook accompanies the issue). The journal contains features on developments in flooring, a computer graphics exhibition, a study of the construction methods of timber housing in Florida and, prophetically, low-energy housing.

This feature begins: “Since the 1973 oil crisis, domestic heating bills have risen substantially.” It discusses the response to energy conservation and progress with “basic insulation techniques; 70% of the homes suitable for loft insulation now have some level of insulation fitted, and over 80% of houses have some insulation of hot water tanks”.

Reading this, it is hard to believe there was a time when loft and hot-water-tank insulation was not standard. The piece also mentions ‘cavity-fill’ insulation and the problems with solid-wall insulation.

The Building Research Establishment’s Building Research Energy Conservation Support Unit had been set up to support the Department of Energy with demonstrations of energy-saving methods. It did this by singling out developments for financial assistance for the application of new technologies to conserve energy, which all sounds very familiar.

The feature looks in detail at three of the nine projects under this scheme: 15 low-energy new builds in Halliwell Lane for Manchester City Council; 35 existing houses in the Giffard Park housing association development in Milton Keynes; and 18 low-energy homes in Lawrie Park Road, in the Sydenham part of the London Borough of Lewisham development. It discusses the low-energy measures taken for each and potential savings.

What is interesting is that in among the expected measures (loft, wall and floor insulation; window and door draught strips; double glazing) there are some forward-thinking innovations such as solar-powered water heating and heat recovery ventilation systems located in the loft space. What is less forward-thinking, however, in the Milton Keynes development is that “instead of installing central heating, it was decided that gas fires should be used in each room”.

The news pages include: the relocation and reconstruction, stone-by-stone, of a farmhouse from County Tyrone to a Staunton museum in Virginia, US, to show Americans how their emigrant forefathers lived; a jarring piece on equal pay that warns employers they will “be in the firing line” if they are paying women less than men rather than from a perceived value in promoting workplace equity; and a discussion about Green Belt “controversy” as “old-style development plans” are replaced by the new Local Plan system.

The President’s inauguration address covers the emergence from the Building Act 1984 of “the supervision of building works other than by local authorities”, noting that those working in the private sector have the opportunity to become “approved inspectors” for building control. He rues this as another example of government’s privatisation drive.