Iron before steel
Steel is now widely used to support buildings – whether as reinforcing in concrete, hot rolled sections for multi-storey tower blocks or cold formed sections for smaller-scale buildings – but iron came first.
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Steel is now widely used to support buildings – whether as reinforcing in concrete, hot rolled sections for multi-storey tower blocks or cold formed sections for smaller-scale buildings – but iron came first.
The conventions of accurate measurement could easily be taken for granted, but the highly standardised system we know today was conceived, refined and enforced over several decades.
What started out as the desire for a cold drink on a hot day lead to the development of the thermal insulation for buildings that we know today.
Although New Zealand has always had plenty of iron ore, it’s only since the 1970s that we have enjoyed a viable steel industry and an increase in the use of steel framing.
Quick to go up and slow to come down, timber framing enabled New Zealand to house its rapidly growing population in the early 1900s and has proved to be an enduring building system.
New Zealanders have a long history of inventions that have improved buildings and safety, but not all of them reached a wider audience.
In the last Build (pages 90–91), we looked at the early development of thermal insulation products, from asbestos and cork to man-made materials like glass wool. What came later in the 20th century?