§ Sir John Tilneyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether in the knowledge of the Summerland and other disasters from fire he is satisfied that the present reliance on small-scale laboratory testing of materials in accordance with British Standard 476 is a realistic guide to performance of building materials under fire conditions; and whether he will implement a programme of full-scale tests of representative materials as a matter of urgency.
§ Mr. ChannonThe structural fire precautions requirements of the Building Regulations 1972 are in the main expressed as performance standards which are related to the performance of the material or element of structure when tested in accordance with specific tests which give a realistic guide to the
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HOUSE IMPROVEMENT GRANTS FOR PRIVATE OWNERS AND HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS Discretionary grants Standard grants Approved Approved Paid Number of dwellings Amount Number of dwellings Amount Number of dwellings Amount £ £ £ Macclesfield B 1970 … … 8 1,935 65 .. 50 10,568 1971 … … 23 9,566 93 22,219 1972 … … 38 19,213 104 38,739 Macclesfield RD 1970 … … 25 14,163 23 .. 19 3,230 1971 … … 31 17,786 26 4,368 1972 … … 38 31,966 30 8,754 Congleton B 1970 … … 7 2,571 44 .. 26 4,474 1971 … … 17 5,727 33 8,350 1972 … … 13 8,352 30 10,492 Bollington UD 1970 … … 7 3,192 21 .. 9 1,184 1971 … … 10 5,252 16 2,974 1972 … … — — — — Disley RD 1970 … … 1 65 10 .. 10 1,739 1971 … … 5 2,244 15 2,066 1972 … … 3 561 4 728 behaviour of materials under fire conditions. It is only in recent years, however, that plastics have been used to any great extent in the construction of buildings, and our knowledge of their behaviour is growing all the time, as indeed are the number and variety of the materials used. There is undoubtedly a continuing need to develop suitable tests and we shall be looking at this closely, particularly in relation to the findings of the Summerland Commission of Inquiry.