INTRODUCTION TO CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS

The aim of this short introductory chapter is to highlight some of the factors that determine how buildings are constructed and also to provide some context to the chapters that follow. An overview of the function and performance of buildings leads into a discussion about the basic principles of construction. The chapter concludes with some comments on legislation, making choices and sources of additional information.

During the last 50 years there has been a considerable increase in building con- trol legislation, which initially was the province of local authorities through building bylaws and later replaced by national building regulations. In the UK building control is governed by three differing, though broadly similar sets of legislation, for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland respec- tively. Building regulations aim to ensure the health and safety of people in and around buildings by setting functional requirements for the design and con- struction of buildings. The regulations also aim to promote energy efficiency of buildings and contribute to the needs of people with disabilities, and in the case of the Scottish legislation promote sustainable development.

The Approved/Guidance Documents give practical guidance to meeting the requirements, but there is no obligation to adopt any particular solution in the documents if the stated functional requirements can be met in some other way. The stated aim of the current regulations is to allow freedom of choice of building form and construction so long as the stated (minimum) require- ments are satisfied. In practice the likelihood is that the majority of designers will accept the guidance given in the Approved/Guidance Documents as if the guidance were prescriptive. This is the easier and quicker approach to con- struction, rather than proposing some other form of construction that would involve calculation and reference to a bewildering array of British Standards, Codes and Agrement Certificates.