HC Deb 26 October 1954 vol 531 cc1754-6
44 and 49. Mr. Chapman

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, (1) how many local authorities have been advised by the Building Research Station to use the floating floor which has proved, on the Egghill Housing Estate, Northfield, Birmingham, to be useless in soundproofing, to sink away from the walls, and to slope;

(2) what advice the Building Research Station is now giving to the Birmingham City Council regarding removal or reconstruction of the floating floors used on the Egghill Housing Estate, Birmingham, on its recommendation; and whether he will offer to meet the costs involved.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works (Mr. J. R. Bevins)

In 1950, the Building Research Station published particulars of a timber floor giving improved sound insulation, and many of these floors have been used in flats constructed for local authorities. An alternative has recently been devised which gives better insulation, but at increased cost. The only complaint received has been from Birmingham, and my noble Friend is arranging for a member of the Building Research Station to look into the matter immediately.

Mr. Chapman

In view of the enormous cost to the Birmingham City Council, will the Parliamentary Secretary, firstly, make some contribution towards the cost, since the Building Research Station approved the original recommendation? Secondly, how is it that these floors now sag; that you can walk across them and the furniture dances towards you with the vibration and that you can hear everything going on in the flats below? And how it is that the Building Research Station recommends such floors to the councils of this country?

Mr. Bevins

I think that the House would be well advised to await the result of the examination which is to take place. After all, this is the first complaint which has been made throughout the whole country. It may well prove that the floors have been wrongly laid. Any question of compensation is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government.

Mr. Chapman

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the majority leader of the Birmingham City Council says that these floors have been built strictly to the specifications of the Building Research Station? In those circumstances, surely some contribution towards the cost of taking them away should be made by his Department?

Mr. Bevins

Surely the right thing to do is to examine the matter, and surely it is equally plain that the Birmingham city architect thought that this design was a good one. Otherwise, it would not have been adopted in Birmingham.