The Rolt Memorial Lecture 1997 New Materials for a New Age: Steel and Concrete Construction in the North of England, 1860–1939

Abstract

The years around 1900 saw the erection of the first steel-framed and the first major reinforced concrete buildings in Britain. Earlier studies have tended to dismiss them as being few in number and conservative in design, most making little show of their revolutionary structure. This article considers the chronology of these materials in Britain, focusing on the 'lost decades' from the 1860s to 1900 when steel became available on a large scale and reinforced concrete was the subject of experiments in the north-east of England. Industrial and technological factors and questions of availability, price and durability are considered. Contemporary reports in journals illuminate the extent to which steel and concrete were used to practical ends, buried under skins of masonry or terracotta. They also highlight who championed the new materials and which groups were hostile to their adoption. The latter part of the article focuses on the large scale use of steel and concrete in the north of England through to the end of the inter-war period.