Share this
History of a building: foundations
by RISE Design Studio on Mar 29, 2018
Constructing foundations is one of the oldest of human activities. Foundations provide support for structures by transferring their load to layers of soil or rock beneath them. Over 12,000 years ago, neolithic inhabitants of Switzerland built houses on long, wooden piles that were driven into the soft beds of shallow lakes, keeping people high up above dangerous animals and hostile neighbours. A few thousand years later, the Babylonians raised their monuments on mats made from reed, and the ancient Egyptians supported the pyramids on stone blocks which rested on the bedrock. It was in ancient Rome that foundation engineering really leapt forwards, with rules created and concrete used. In the first of a series of posts that chart the history of modern building elements in the UK, we look at how foundation engineering has changed over the past century or so.
Byelaws for healthy buildings
The Public Health Act, introduced in 1875, was the first legislation that required byelaws to be set by the authorities. These byelaws were focussed on the development of new streets, ensuring the structural stability of houses, preventing fires, providing adequate and efficient drainage, and ensuring air space around buildings.
In 1878, the Building Act provided more detail regarding house foundations and wall types. For foundations, the byelaws stated that walls should have stepped footings (twice the width of the wall) and that nine inch (225mm) thick concrete should be placed under the footings unless the building sat on gravel or rock sub-soil (‘solid ground’). At that time, Portland cement was seen as making the best concrete, with hydraulic lime as ‘the next best thing’. Common (hydrated) lime was seen as inferior.
It is not known how many authorities adopted these byelaws outside London – many produced their own, less onerous rules. This meant that the nature and quality of foundations varied somewhat (concrete foundation, brick footings, rubble/flagstone) with depths varying according to circumstances and, in general, shallower than modern foundations.
Raft vs strip foundations
Raft foundations are created from reinforced concrete slabs of uniform thickness, covering a wide area. They spread the load over the whole area of the foundation, in effect ‘floating’ on the ground. In the 1920s and 1930s, this type of foundation was common, with brick footings also permitted.
In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, most new houses were built on strip foundations, although raft foundations remained popular. Strip foundations are particularly suited to light structural loadings, such as those found in many low-to-medium rise domestic buildings, with minimum strip widths applying to different ground types and total load. These regulations were set out in the National Building Regulations in 1965 and applied generally throughout England and Wales, with the exception of London which had its own Building Acts.
Today, raft foundations are quite rare, except in former mining areas. An overview of modern types of foundations can be found here.
Share this
- Architecture (146)
- Sustainable architecture (85)
- Design (66)
- Retrofit (55)
- Passivhaus (53)
- London (51)
- New build (48)
- Renovation (41)
- energy (38)
- interior design (37)
- Sustainable Design (34)
- Planning (32)
- Environment (31)
- Building materials (30)
- climate-change (29)
- Inspirational architects (27)
- Refurbishment (27)
- extensions (27)
- Building elements (22)
- Inspiration (21)
- Rise Projects (16)
- enerphit (16)
- Extension (13)
- net zero (13)
- General (12)
- Philosophy (12)
- Carbon Zero Homes (11)
- Working with an architect (10)
- architects (10)
- Awards (9)
- Innovative Architecture (9)
- London Architecture (8)
- RIBA (8)
- architect (8)
- Airtightness (6)
- Eenergy efficiency (6)
- Uncategorized (6)
- Virtual Reality (6)
- RISE Sketchbook Chronicles (5)
- Sustainable (5)
- cinema design (5)
- ARB (4)
- BIM (4)
- Basement Extensions (4)
- concrete (4)
- local materials (4)
- modular architecture (4)
- working from home (4)
- Carbon Positive Buildings (3)
- Home improvement (3)
- Passive house (3)
- Permitted development (3)
- Planning permission (3)
- Property (3)
- circular economy (3)
- construction (3)
- mvhr (3)
- natural materials (3)
- plywood (3)
- structural (3)
- structuralengineer (3)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) (2)
- Bricks (2)
- Building in the Green Belt (2)
- Costs (2)
- Covid-19 (2)
- Heat Pumps (2)
- Home extensions (2)
- Permitted development rights (2)
- Residential architecture (2)
- Roof extension (2)
- Social Distancing (2)
- Welbeing (2)
- ashp (2)
- barcelona (2)
- building information modelling (2)
- co-working (2)
- design&build (2)
- furniture (2)
- glazed-extensions (2)
- green architecture (2)
- greenbelt (2)
- historic architecture (2)
- light (2)
- living space (2)
- london landmarks (2)
- londoncinemas (2)
- openingupworks (2)
- peter zumthor (2)
- rammed earth (2)
- self build (2)
- sustainability (2)
- sustainable building (2)
- traditional (2)
- trialpits (2)
- #NLANetZero (1)
- 3D Printing (1)
- 3D models (1)
- Adobe (1)
- Alvar (1)
- Architecture Interior Design (1)
- Area (1)
- Art (1)
- BIMx (1)
- BREEAM (1)
- Bespoke lighting (1)
- Birmingham Selfridges (1)
- Boat building (1)
- Boats (1)
- Brass (1)
- Brexit (1)
- Building energy (1)
- Casting (1)
- Chailey Brick (1)
- Chartered architect (1)
- Commercial Architecture (1)
- Copper (1)
- Czech Republic, (1)
- David Lea (1)
- Dormer extension (1)
- Ecohouse (1)
- Fees (1)
- Flooding (1)
- Furniture design (1)
- Gandhi memorial museum (1)
- Garden studio (1)
- Green Register (1)
- Green infrastructure (1)
- History (1)
- House cost (1)
- India (1)
- Jan Kaplický (1)
- Kitchen Design (1)
- L-shaped dormer (1)
- Land value (1)
- Loft conversion (1)
- Lord's Media Centre (1)
- Mapping (1)
- Marseilles (1)
- Mary Portas (1)
- Metal (1)
- Micro Generation (1)
- Monuments (1)
- Party Wall Surveyor (1)
- Place (1)
- Porch (1)
- Prefab (1)
- Procurement (1)
- Richard Rogers (1)
- Sand (1)
- Scandinavian architecture (1)
- Selfbuild (1)
- Social housing (1)
- Spain (1)
- Steel (1)
- Surveying (1)
- Sverre fehn (1)
- VR (1)
- West london (1)
- Wildlife (1)
- Wood (1)
- architect fees (1)
- architectural details (1)
- arne jacobsen (1)
- avant garde (1)
- backland (1)
- basements (1)
- brentdesignawards (1)
- building design (1)
- building regulations (1)
- built environment (1)
- carbonpositive (1)
- cement (1)
- charles correa (1)
- charles eames (1)
- charlie warde (1)
- charteredarchitect (1)
- climate (1)
- climate action (1)
- codes of practice (1)
- collaboration (1)
- constructioncosts (1)
- country house (1)
- countryside (1)
- covid (1)
- dezeenawards (1)
- drone (1)
- eco-living (1)
- emissions (1)
- epc (1)
- finnish architecture (1)
- foundations (1)
- futuristic (1)
- georgian architecture (1)
- glazed envelope (1)
- good working relationships (1)
- green building (1)
- hampstead (1)
- happiness (1)
- health and wellbeing (1)
- home extension (1)
- homesurveys (1)
- house extension (1)
- imperfection (1)
- independentcinemas (1)
- innovation (1)
- inspirational (1)
- insulation (1)
- interiorfinishes (1)
- internal windows (1)
- jean prouve (1)
- kindness economy (1)
- kintsugi (1)
- landscape architecture (1)
- lime (1)
- listed buildings (1)
- local (1)
- lockdown (1)
- low carbon (1)
- mansard (1)
- manufacturing (1)
- materiality (1)
- modern architecture (1)
- moderninst (1)
- modernism (1)
- moulded furniture (1)
- natural (1)
- natural cooling (1)
- natural light (1)
- nordic pavilion (1)
- northern ireland (1)
- palazzo (1)
- placemaking (1)
- planningpermission (1)
- plywood kitchen (1)
- post-Covid (1)
- poverty (1)
- powerhouse (1)
- preapp (1)
- preapplication (1)
- project management (1)
- ray eames (1)
- reclaimed bricks (1)
- recycle (1)
- renewable energy (1)
- reuse (1)
- ricardo bofill (1)
- rooflights (1)
- room reconfiguration (1)
- rural (1)
- satellite imagery (1)
- selfbuildhouse (1)
- shared spaces (1)
- site-progress (1)
- solarpvs (1)
- space (1)
- stone (1)
- structuralsurvey (1)
- sun tunnel (1)
- sustainable materials (1)
- terraces (1)
- thegreenregister (1)
- totality (1)
- wabi-sabi (1)
- waste (1)
- wooden furniture (1)
- zero waste (1)
- December 2024 (1)
- November 2024 (8)
- October 2024 (5)
- June 2024 (1)
- May 2024 (1)
- March 2024 (1)
- February 2024 (1)
- January 2024 (2)
- November 2023 (1)
- October 2023 (5)
- September 2023 (7)
- August 2023 (7)
- July 2023 (6)
- June 2023 (8)
- May 2023 (14)
- April 2023 (11)
- March 2023 (8)
- February 2023 (6)
- January 2023 (5)
- December 2022 (3)
- November 2022 (3)
- October 2022 (3)
- September 2022 (3)
- July 2022 (2)
- June 2022 (1)
- May 2022 (1)
- April 2022 (1)
- March 2022 (1)
- February 2022 (2)
- January 2022 (1)
- November 2021 (1)
- October 2021 (2)
- July 2021 (1)
- June 2021 (1)
- May 2021 (1)
- April 2021 (1)
- March 2021 (1)
- February 2021 (1)
- January 2021 (2)
- December 2020 (1)
- November 2020 (1)
- October 2020 (1)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (1)
- June 2020 (3)
- April 2020 (3)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (3)
- January 2020 (1)
- December 2019 (1)
- November 2019 (2)
- September 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (1)
- April 2019 (2)
- January 2019 (2)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (2)
- July 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (2)
- December 2017 (1)
- September 2017 (1)
- May 2017 (1)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (1)
- November 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (1)
- August 2016 (2)
- June 2016 (2)
- May 2016 (1)
- April 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (1)
- October 2015 (1)
- September 2015 (1)
- August 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (1)
- January 2015 (1)
- September 2014 (2)
- August 2014 (1)
- July 2014 (4)
- June 2014 (9)
- May 2014 (2)
- April 2014 (1)
- March 2014 (1)
- February 2014 (1)
- December 2013 (1)
- November 2013 (5)
- October 2013 (5)
- September 2013 (5)
- August 2013 (5)
- July 2013 (5)
- June 2013 (2)
- May 2013 (2)
- April 2013 (4)
- March 2013 (5)
- February 2013 (2)
- January 2013 (3)