§ Mr. Saltasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings how many houses have been constructed in the country in accordance with the design recommended in the Wartime Building Bulletin, No. 7, for House Construction; and whether he is aware that the concrete reinforcement in this design includes an impracticably large number of different sizes of steel, several of which are not readily obtainable?
§ Mr. HicksI regret that information is not available of the number of houses built to the diagram given in War Time Bulletin No. 7. But, as the hon. Member is aware, there is very little house building in present war-time conditions. The designs were based on the paramount importance of saving steel and where large numbers of houses had to be built the saving would be considerable. In such circumstances there would be no difficulty in getting all the five to seven sizes of bars specified. From the point of view of 487W simplification and standardisation, the question is however still under consideration.