§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what quantity of calcium chloride is used by the building industry each year as a setting agent for reinforced concrete.
§ Mr. ArmstrongI will write to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish details of the PSA investigation into concrete corrosion found in Ministry of Defence buildings and referred to in his answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr on 24th July.
§ Mr. ArmstrongNo, but for the information of the hon. Member, in the buildings referred to in my reply of 24th July the defects range from rust staining with some cracking, corrosion and spalling of cladding panels on buildings about four years old to major cracking and splitting of reinforced concrete columns with advanced corrosion in the main reinforcement on a concrete framed building about 12 years old.—[Vol. 896, c. 320.]
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the cost to public funds of investigations into and remedial work related to concrete corrosion caused by the use of calcium chloride.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThere are no centralised records on the cost to public funds of investigations into, and remedial work related to, the corrosion of reinforcement in concrete caused by the use of calcium chloride. It is considered however that the overall costs of the investigations which have been carried out to date is comparatively small.
371WIt is impossible to establish the cost of remedial work in advance of it being carried out and proved to be successful.