§ Mr. Tileyasked the Minister of Health what guidance he has give to regional hospital boards on the provision of adequate standards of design and construction for new hospital buildings and to ensure that those standards are achieved at reasonable cost; and with what results.
§ Mr. BraineMy Department have issued over 30 Building Notes and 20 Equipment Notes, mainly on the design and equipment of individual hospital departments, with standards of provision and cost to which hospital boards work in their planning, as well as 11 Technical Memoranda on engineering design and documents on industrialised building, traffic surveys, development planning, fire protection and protection from noise. This material has been welcomed and widely used by hospital authorities. It has provided a firm basis for the control 87W of cost, has simplified the scrutiny of those plans which require my right hon. Friend's approval and has reduced the time of planning. There is frequent and close consultation between officers of the Department and those of hospital boards on these matters.
§ Mr. Tileyasked the Minister of Health what steps he is taking to utilise industrialised building techniques in the achievement of the hospital building programme.
§ Mr. BraineA Design Note has been published on dimensional co-crdination and industrialised building; 23 Study Groups are working on the application of these principles through standardised components and techniques for hospital building; six experiments in the use of existing building systems for hospital construction have started, to a total value of over £5,000,000.
§ Mr. Tileyasked the Minister of Health when the reports of his Study Groups on Industrialised Building Components, mentioned in his Annual Report, are likely to be available; and what steps he will take to utilise them to achieve greater speed of construction and economy in hospital building.
§ Mr. BraineThe Report of the Architects' and Quantity Surveyors' Groups will be published later this year, and those of the Engineering Groups from time to time as appropriate sectors of the work are covered. The recommendations will be used to simplify design, reduce drawing time, extend the use of coordinated dimensions as an aid to industrialised building, and provide a basis for bulk manufacture and ordering of doors, windows, partitions and other structural components.