§ Mr. Chichester-Clarkasked the Minister of Public Building and Works what studies his Department has made of dimensional co-ordination; what is the outcome of those studies; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PrenticeFor over three years my Ministry has been energetically encouraging and co-ordinating studies in this field, with the industry and with the other interested Government Departments. The publication last March by the British Standards Institution of B.S. No. 4011 on Basic Sizes for Building Components and Assemblies was a major step forward, and the change-over to the metric system offers further opportunities for advance.
An interdepartmental committee, chaired by my Ministry, is drawing up a dimensional framework within which standardised building components can be developed, which are for use in either industrialised or traditional building.
Component producers will be given dimensional and other requirements, and invited to design and cost the standardised components. When components which are satisfactory in performance, design and price have been developed with the industry, they will be used in large public programmes for a few years to stimulate large-scale production.
The Agreement Board and British Standards Institution are closely associated with this work and the latter will publish the results in the form of British Standards, expressing dimensions in metric measure.