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Oligodendrocytes: Methods and Protocols David Lyons
Modern Methods of Construction and Innovative Materials
This new textbook has two main themes. The first is Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) which is the off-site manufacture of a wide spectrum of products, ranging from whole buildings to be transported onto site, down to smaller units or components for site integration. The second theme describes the innovation and progress towards carbon zero by the major generators of CO2 in the construction industry – namely cement, steel and masonry.
The first section of the book describes and illustrates with photographs, the major forms of Modern Methods of Construction. These include fully completed 3D units, panelised systems, pods, sub-assemblies and on-site MMC. The section on Innovative Materials then describes a wide range of construction products which are entering into the built environment sector. Some new entrants are variants of well-established construction materials such as steel and concrete. Materials such as these will remain major construction materials for the foreseeable future, but their composition and manufacturing processes will inevitably have to change. Timber also will remain a major construction material, but sustainable sourcing is key and its utilisation as crosslamination timber (CLT) or as modified timber is rapidly developing. As a result, students and practitioners must familiarise themselves with these materials, their composition, and various uses.
The book goes on to describe variants of other traditional building products, such as glass, plastic and insulation, which are undergoing major developments leading towards enhanced environmental sustainability, as well as many emergent materials, some of which are likely to be significant in future. Modern Methods of Construction and Innovative Materials is the only book combining these important elements of the future of the industry in an easy-to-read guide for students and new practitioners. It is essential reading for anyone studying and working in the built environment, be they architects, construction managers, surveyors or engineers.
Arthur Lyons studied science at Trinity Hall Cambridge, Warwick and Leicester Universities and has a postgraduate diploma in architectural building conservation. Lyons was honoured with life membership of the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects. Since retiring from teaching in the School of Architecture of De Montfort University, Leicester, where he is an honorary research fellow, he has authored several books on construction materials including Materials for Architects and Builders, now in its sixth edition.
Modern Methods of Construction and Innovative Materials
Arthur Lyons
Designed cover image: Clockwise from top left: Crane lifting timber volumetric module for installation on building site. Copyright: Getty Images.
University of Leicester Freemen’s Common Student Village. Two of the seven residential blocks incorporated significant MMC techniques including the use of prefabricated insulated sandwich panels with integral brick facing and acid-etched finishes together with factory fitted windows. Photograph: Arthur Lyons. Installation of off-site manufactured cold-rolled steel panels in London. Photograph: Courtesy of Hiltongrove and Hamza Kadeen. Woodolex® flexible wooden board manufactured from 96% recycled wood and 4% adhesive. Photograph: Arthur Lyons. Modern timber construction. Copyright: Getty Images.
First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
The right of Arthur Lyons to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-41934-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-41482-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-36046-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003360469
Typeset in Adobe Caslon by MPS Limited, Dehradun
About the Author
Dr Arthur Lyons, the author of many texts on building materials, was formerly Head of Quality, Principal Lecturer and Teacher Fellow for construction materials in the Leicester School of Architecture, Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. He was educated at Trinity Hall Cambridge, Warwick and Leicester Universities in the fields of natural sciences and polymer science and has a postgraduate diploma in architectural building conservation. He was a lecturer in building materials within schools of architecture and surveying for 35 years. In recognition of his services to architects and architecture, Lyons was honoured with life membership of the local society of architects and he is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He retains his active interest in architecture through liaison with the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects and the Leicester School of
Architecture of De Montfort University, where he is an Honorary Research Fellow. Lyons is the author of Materials for Architects and Builders which is now in its sixth edition (2020) with Routledge. In addition to this entirely new text, Lyons has written chapters in the ICE Manual of Construction Materials (2009, Institution of Civil Engineers), the Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data (7th edition, 2022, Routledge) and the Construction Materials Reference Book (2013, Routledge). Lyons also authored four editions of The Architecture of the Universities of Leicester, published by AnchorPrint, and he has published a home emergency booklet, Home Information: Help! Where do I turn it off? Details are on the website www.arthurlyons.net.
Arthur Lyons is married to Susan. They have two daughters with families, Claire lives in Perth Australia and Elizabeth in London.
Preface
This entirely new text describes the main types of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and also a wide range of emerging new materials in building construction. Some of the innovations such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) are already well bedded into construction, but other developments, such as straw bale construction are still prototypical, and inevitably only some will be taken up by the industry, while others will prove neither successful nor economically viable. However, many are included in the text as it is not possible to predict which innovations will ultimately gain acceptance, and all options should remain open to be available to potential specifiers and users. Who would have predicted a few years ago, when first created, that graphene would have become incorporated into major building construction projects such as HS2 (High Speed 2)? The vast majority of the emerging developments have the road map to a low-carbon economy
as their driving force. Fabric First is generally accepted as the key philosophy for future building followed by consideration of HEVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).
It is hoped that the text will inspire future architects, builders and other built environment professionals to be creative in the materials and technologies that they specify as we move towards a zero-carbon environment. However, specifiers must always ensure that the materials they specify are appropriate to the task and comply with the regulations pertaining at the time. This text does not guarantee the viability or appropriateness of any of the materials described. Published technical data, certifications of the materials and their appropriate applications must be thoroughly checked with the manufacturers and suppliers before their use.
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the support of the De Montfort University library, especially in respect of access to external databases including British Standards Institution (BSI) and Construction Information Systems (CIS). The author wishes to thank Susan for her participation in the production of this book and also Claire and Elizabeth for constant support and encouragement.
The author is indebted to the numerous manufacturers of building materials and components for their trade literature and for permissions to reproduce their published data, photographs and diagrams. The author wishes to thank the building owners, architectural practices and their photographers for the inclusion of their photographs. In particular, the author wishes to thank Elaine Toogood, The Concrete Centre, London for her checking of the text relating to current and pending cement and concrete developments.
The text uses generic names for the building materials and components wherever possible. However, many of the innovative materials are so new and specific that they can only be usefully described by particular reference to their researchers, manufacturer or trade name. The specific names are therefore annotated appropriately.
I would like to thank the following organisations for giving permission to use their illustrations:
Accsys – SBM Fastwood (Fig. 12.7)
Ambient GlowTechnology – Glow Stones (Figs. 11.9 and 11.10)
Alberto Cosi / Italian Connection (Fig. 12.13)
Alusion Aluminium Foam (Fig. 13.5)
A. Proctor Group (Fig. 18.20)
Basalt Technologies UK Ltd. (Fig. 11.1)
Beattie Passive (Fig. 3.1)
Bellway Homes (Fig. 4.36)
BOS Logistica (Fig. 6.1)
Celcon (Fig. 5.1)
ClearVuePV, West Australia (Fig. 14.3)
Curtin University, Perth, West Australia (Fig. 4.28)
Cymat Technologies Ltd. (Fig. 13.5)
De Montfort University, Leicester (Fig. 10.11)
Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology (Fig. 4.13)
Elfin Kitchens Ltd. (Fig. 4.34)
FFLI Group, West Australia (Fig. 23.1)
Foresso Co. UK (Fig. 12.11)
FP McCann (Figs. 4.21 and 4.22)
H+H UK Ltd. (Figs. 4.23 and 5.1)
Hiltongrove (Figs. 4.25 and 4.26)
Ibstock plc. (Figs. 10.5, 10.14 and 10.15)
IMA Architects (Fig. 6.4)
Jackpad Ltd. (Figs. 7.2 and 7.3)
Jake Curtis (Figs. 12.2 and 12.4)
Kondor Pods Ltd. (Figs. 4.31, 4.32, 4.33 and 6.2)
Linda Bone and Brenda Griffiths (Fig. 12.18)
Litracon, Hungary (Fig. 11.8)
Mirreco (Figs. 4.28, 10.3, 11.5, 18.2, 18.3 and 23.1)
ModPods International Ltd. (Figs. 4.6 and 4.7)
MX3D, Thea den Heuvel and Olivier de Gruitjer (Figs. 13.3 and 13.4)
NetZeroProjects Co. (Fig. 4.29)
Nexus Modular Ltd. (Fig. 4.24)
Pan Zhenyu (Fig. 12.12)
Pilkington UK (Figs. 14.5 and 14.6)
Rise Adaptations (Fig. 6.4)
Roger Bullivant Ltd. (Fig. 7.1)
Rollforming Services in New Zealand (Fig. 4.10)
Sensitile Inc. (Fig.15.5)
TOG – The Office Group (Figs. 12.2, 12.3 and 12.4)
Vision Development South Ltd. (Figs. 4.19 and 4.20)
Water-filled Glass Technology (WFG) (Fig. 14.4)
Weston Williamson + Partners (Figs. 4.3 and 6.3)
WilkinsonEyre Architects (Fig. 4.13)
Zed Pods Ltd. (Figs. 4.8 and 4.9)
Abbreviations
3DCP Three-Dimensional Construction Printing
ABLR Automated Bricklaying Robot
AC Air Changes
AHSS Advanced High Strength Steels
AI Artificial Intelligence
ALON Aluminium Oxynitride
AR Augmented Reality
ASHP Air Source Heat Pump
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
BBA British Board of Agrément
BCSA British Constructional Steelwork Association
BIM Building Information Modelling
BIPV Building Integrated Photovoltaic
BNG Biodiversity Net Gain
BOF Basic Oxygen Furnace
BRE Building Research Establishment
BREEAM Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method
BS EN British Version of the European Standards
BSI British Standards Institution
CAST Carbon Asset Storage Technology
CCA Crushed Concrete Aggregate
CCH2 Carbon Capture and Hydrogen
CCS Carbon Capture and Storage
CCU Carbon Capture and Use
CCUS Carbon Capture, Use and Storage
CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons
CG Cellular Glass (Foamed Glass)
CIOB Chartered Institute of Building
CIS Construction Information Systems
CLT Cross-laminated Timber
CNC Computer Numerical Control
CO Carbon monoxide
CO2 Carbon dioxide
COP Certificate of Performance
dB Decibel
DfMA Design for Manufacture and Assembly
DLUHC Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid
DRI Direct Reduced Iron
EAF Electric Arc Furnace
ECC Engineered Cementitious Composites
EPC Energy Performance Certificates
EPD Environmental Product Declaration
EV Electric Vehicle
EVA Ethyl Vinyl Acetate
FEES Fabric Energy Efficiency Standards
FHS Future Homes Standard
FSC Forest Stewardship Council
GCCMs Geosynthetic Cementitious Composite Mats
GGBS Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag
GluBam Glue Laminated Bamboo
GO Graphene Oxide
GPS Graphite Polystyrene
GPS Global Positioning System
GRC Glass-fibre Reinforced Cement
GRP Glass-fibre Reinforced Plastic
HCFC Hydrochlorofluorocarbons
HEVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
HRAC Hemp and Recycled Aggregate Concrete
HRWRA High-Range Water Reducing Agent
HS2 High Speed 2
HSS High Strength Steels
ICB Insulating Cork Board
ICE Institution of Civil Engineers
ICF Insulated Concrete Form
IGU Insulating Glass Unit
ISO International Organization for Standardization
KGP Potassium Geopolymeric Composite
LED Light-Emitting Diode
LSF Light Steel Framing
LVL Laminated Veneer Lumber
M&E Mechanical and Electrical Services
MARSS Materials from Alternative, Recycled and Secondary Sources
MBM Meat and Bone Meal
MDF Medium Density Fibreboard
MHCLG Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MMC Modern Methods of Construction
MOE Molten Oxide Electrolysis
MPa Megapascal
MRSA Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus
MVHR Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery
NCS Natural Color System
NHBC National House Building Council
NOx Nitrogen Oxides
OPC Ordinary Portland Cement
OSB Oriented Strand Board
PCI Pulverised Coal Injection
PDLC Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal
PEDOT Poly(3,4 Ethylenedioxythiophene)
PEFC Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme
PET Polyethylene Terephthalate
PIR Passive Infrared
PIR Polyisocyanurate foam
PMV Pre-Manufactured Value
Pr BS Draft British Standard
PU Polyurethane foam
PV Photo Voltaic
PVA Polyvinyl Acetate
PVB Polyvinyl Butyral
PVC Polyvinyl Chloride
PVCU Polyvinyl Chloride Unplasticised
QR Quick Response (code)
RAL Color system – Reichs Ausschuß für Leiferbedingungen
RCP Recovered Cement Paste
RHA Rice Husk Ash
RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects
RICS Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
RISCA Risk, Insight, Strategy and Control Authority
RMIT Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
RPTM Recycled Polymer Tyre Microfibres
RSTM Recycled Steel Tyre Microfibres
RSUF Recycled Steel Undulating Fibres
SAF Stabilised Aluminium Foam
SAP Standard Assessment Procedure
SCEBs Stabilised Compressed Earth Blocks
SCI Steel Construction Institute
SCMs Secondary Cementitious Materials
SCS Sustainable Construction Steels
SEB Structural Engineered Bamboo
SIPs Structural Insulated Panels
SPD Suspended Particle Device
STA Structural Timber Association
SuDS Sustainable Drainage Systems
TDUK Timber Development UK
TFA Trifluoroacetic Acid
TRADA Timber Research and Development Association
UCL University College London
UHPC Ultra-high Performance Concrete
UV Ultra-violet Light
VCL Vapour Control Layer
VIP Vacuum Insulation Panel
VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds
VR Virtual Reality
WER Window Energy Rating
WFG Water-filled Glass
WiFi Wireless Fidelity
WRA Water Reducing Agent
WRA Wood Recyclers’ Association
WWHR Waste Water Heat Recovery
CHAPTER 1 Context
Context
The UK government has set a target of net zero carbon for the whole country by 2050. To achieve this target the government has set in law the requirement to reduce total emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to the 1990 levels. To achieve this aim, the Future Homes Standard (FHS) will come into force in 2025 ensuring that all new housing is carbon neutral with low-carbon heating systems and high levels of energy efficiency. Offices and shops will have to cut emissions by 27%. Existing homes will also be subject to higher standards when being extended or upgraded. Home heating currently contributes to about 17% of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. Building and construction accounts for approximately 39% of global emissions of which operational emissions in use are 28% and 11% is from materials and construction.1
The new UK Building Regulations Part L, 2021 edition (England) came into force in June 2022 set standards to reduce housing CO2 emissions by 31%. There are strict requirements for fabric U-values and ultimately no more new housing gas main connections by 2025. To achieve these rigorous targets, traditional construction may require walls of at least 300 mm thickness, involving the use of more embodied carbon materials. However, modern methods of construction (MMC), such as the manufacture of volumetric units can, under factory conditions, can achieve the required standards with less embodied carbon materials.
The new Building Regulations uplifted Part L – Conservation of Fuel and Power and Part F – Ventilation and also introduced the new Part O – Overheating. The changes act as the precursor to the anticipated 2025 Future Homes Standard (FHS) which is
DOI: 10.1201/9781003360469-1
expected to require that all new homes built from 2025 will produce 75–80% less carbon emissions than homes built to the previous regulations. The target for operational carbon reduction in the FHS2 is backed up by Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)3 which may be tightened to require the use of Smart Meters to measure in-use building performance.
The Approved Document for Part L of the new regulations has two sections:
Volume 1: Dwellings
Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings
The revised Part L regulations require a reduction in carbon emissions for newbuild dwellings of 30% and for nondwellings 27% compared to the previous 2013 edition. It is anticipated that the proposed 2025 Future Homes Standard will reduce the requirement further.
The four new Part L target metrics are:
Primary Energy Rate (kWhPE/m2/y) determined by the building fabric and fuel used.
Emissions Rate (kgCO2e/m2/y) determined by the building fabric and fuel used.
Fabric Energy Efficiency Rate (kWh/m2/y) determined by the building fabric. (Applies to dwellings only)
Minimum Fabric and Building Services Standards.
The Primary Energy Rate includes not only the energy demand of the building, but also the energy used to supply the fuel
to the building, including generation and transportation. The energy requirements for the building typically include heating, lighting and hot water.
The CO2 Emissions Rate is used as a secondary metric supporting the Primary Energy Rate to ensure the requisite reductions in carbon emissions.
Fabric Energy Efficiency Standards (FEES) are focussed on fabric elements which directly affect the heating energy requirements of the dwelling. These include walls, roofs, floors, windows, doors, thermal bridging and air permeability. Uvalues of the building materials are a key factor but thermal bridging and air permeability are also significant.
The Building Regulations specify higher levels of insulation and airtightness with heating systems operating at lower temperatures appropriate to air source heat pumps. Wet space heating systems will be limited to a maximum flow temperature of 55oC. Hot water storage will be required and combi boilers will not be permitted. The replacement of gas heating by electric heat pumps does have financial implications as currently electricity is approximately 30p/KWh and gas 10p/KWh. Heat pumps have a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 3, producing heating at 10p/ KWh, and gas heating at 90% efficiency costs 11p/KWh. However, the relative costs will change significantly over time.
The changes in regulations mean that in housing built with traditional masonry cavity wall construction, the norm will be a cavity of 125 or 150 mm. Table 1.1 gives examples of typical wall formations with 150 mm cavities which achieve the required U-value of 0.18 W/m2K.
Table 1.1 Typical housing cavity wall constructions providing a U-value of 0.18 W/m2K
Full Cavity Fill
102.5 mm brickwork
150 mm cavity filled with mineral wool (λ=0.032 W/mK)
100 mm aircrete blockwork
(λ=0.15–0.18 W/mK)
12.5 mm plasterboard on dabs
Partial Cavity Fill
102.5 mm brickwork
150 mm cavity partially filled with 100 mm polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation (λ=0.022 W/mK)
100 mm medium density blockwork (λ=0.49 W/mK)
12.5 mm plasterboard on dabs
The current U-values (W/m2K) to Building Regulations 2010 incorporating 2023 amendments for use in England –Part L Volume 1: Dwellings are 4 :
The current U-values (W/m2K) for buildings other than dwellings to Building Regulations 2010 Part L Volume 2 incorporating 2023 amendments – for use in England are:
m3/h.m2 @ 50 Pa
The Building Regulations (England) do not apply to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which have their own specific regulations, which are slightly different from those applicable to England.
The limiting U-values for fabric performance in new dwellings in Wales to Building Regulations 2010 – Approved Document Part L Volume 1 – 2022 edition for use in Wales are 5 :
The limiting U-values for fabric performance in new buildings other than dwellings in Wales to Building Regulations 2010 – Approved Document Part L Volume 2 – 2022 edition for use in Wales are:
The limiting U-values for building elements of building fabric in new dwellings in Northern Ireland to the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 –Technical Booklet F1 are 6 :
The limiting U-values for building elements of the insulated envelope in new dwellings in Scotland to the Building Regulations (Scotland) 2004 – Technical Handbook Domestic are 7 :
Local Authorities will be permitted to set higher energy efficiency standards for new homes in their area once the Future Homes and Buildings Standard is published.
Windows, doors and rooflights 1.6
Cavity separating walls 0.20
Recommended air permeability 10.0 m3/h.m2 @ 50 Pa
The anticipated 2025 Future Homes Standard regulation is expected to require all new homes to be triple glazed, with minimum standards for walls, floors and roofs. In addition the low temperature/low carbon heating would require a heat pump and waste heat recovery systems. The move to the decarbonised electricity grid would ensure that no further modifications would be necessary as fossil fuels would not be used for heating.
In response to consultation, the following U-values for the FHS have been proposed but they are subject to ratification prior to implementation in 2025:
The ecological impact of traditional construction materials is illustrated by the data on embodied carbon in Table 1.2. Many of the newer innovative materials will have significantly less environmental impact when used in construction and some will even have a negative embodied carbon impact when their carbon sequestering effect is taken into account.
The BREEAM UK New Construction scheme8 is available to assess at the design and construction stages the environmental life-cycle impacts of new non-domestic
Table 1.2 Embodied carbon in main construction materials
Note: Data from Inventory of Carbon and Energy v. 3.0, 10 November 2019 – Hammond, G. and Jones, C.
buildings within the UK. The wide range of building types covered includes office, industrial, retail, education, healthcare, residential institutions and assembly.
References
1. Bringing embodied carbon upfront –Coordinated action for the building and construction sector to tackle embodied carbon, 2019, World Green Building Council, London.
2. Future Homes Standard (England), UK Government, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Expected publication date 2025.
3. Guide to Environmental Performance Certificates (EPCs), Gives the energy efficiency rating of a building from A (very efficient) to G (inefficient), Energy Saving Trust, London.
4. Building Regulations England:
Approved Document B, Fire safety, Volume 1: Dwellings, 2019 edition incorporating 2020 and 2022 amendments.
Approved Document B, Fire safety, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings, 2019 edition incorporating 2020 and 2022 amendments.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume 1: Dwellings, 2021 edition incorporating 2023 amendments.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings, 2021 edition incorporating 2023 amendments.
Approved Document O, Overheating, 2021, updated 2022.
5. Building Regulations Wales:
Approved Document B, Fire safety, Volume 1: Dwellinghouses, 2006 edition incorporating 2016 and 2020 amendments.
Approved Document B, Fire safety,) Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellinghouses, 2006 edition incorporating 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2020 amendments.
Approved Document, Part F, Ventilation, 2022.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume L1A: New dwellings, 2014 edition incorporating 2016 amendments.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume L1B: Existing dwellings, 2014 edition incorporating 2016 amendments.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume L2A: New buildings other than dwellings, 2014 edition incorporating 2016 amendments.
Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume L2B: Existing buildings other than dwellings, 2014 edition incorporating 2016 amendments.
Building Regulations Guidance: Part O, Overheating, 2022.
6. Building Regulations Northern Ireland: Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, Part E, Fire Safety.
Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, Part F, Conservation of fuel and power.
Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, Part K, Ventilation.
7. Building Regulations Scotland:
Building Standards Technical Handbook 2023: Domestic.
Building Standards Technical Handbook 2023: Non-domestic.
8. Building Research Establishment, BREEAM UK New Construction, Version 6, Reference SD5079, 24/08/ 2022.
CHAPTER 2
Introduction to Modern Methods of Construction
CONTENTS
Introduction to MMC
As the country moves towards zero carbon by 2050, innovations in construction will play an increasingly important part of the national plan. Currently, building construction and operational emissions contribute approximately 38% of total carbon output. To achieve the ultimate net zero target, a reduction of 50% will be required by 2030. The text covers the developing area of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), which is currently being promoted by the UK government1 and is being picked up by a significant number of major players in building construction, particularly within the housing market. It is claimed that modular construction systems could cut carbon emissions by up to 45% compared to traditional building techniques. The UK government
agency Homes England2 has given significant financial support to Britain’s modular housing sector.
However, the uptake of modular construction across the UK is still modest, with only 8% of new housing built by off-site modular techniques in 2021. Some companies focussing on MMC for the housing market have gone into administration with significant financial losses, leading to other firms being wary of investing in modular factories. One reason for the company failures appears to be over provision of manufacturing capacity due to the slower-thananticipated uptake in the market not only for residential but also in the hotel and education sectors. Modular factories need a constant throughput of work to retain operational competitiveness. Another factor
is the general caution in the construction industry about insurance issues especially after the Grenfell Tower3 disaster although that particular building was constructed using traditional systems. One manufacturer of modular housing reported that design defects in their homes had led to a loss of customer confidence and the subsequent collapse of the company. The issue of consumer trust was raised by the CIOB and BRE in the UK House of Lords Built Environment Committee report ‘Meeting Housing Demand’.4 A further inhibiting factor is possibly the requirement of some modular firms to require significant upfront payments from clients to cover initial costs.
On the positive side, it is argued that the construction of modular housing is speedier, offers better factory, rather than building site, working conditions and requires significantly less transport movements. On site work is reduced to about one-fifth of what is required for traditionally constructed housing. Student accommodation and builtto-rent projects are particularly suited to modular construction due to their repetitive nature.The typical College Road modular development by Vision Modular Systems® and Tide Construction® at Croydon5,6 (Figure 2.1) consists of two towers of 50 and 35 storeys offering 817 co-living and 120 affordable homes. The 50-storey tower at 150 metres is currently the world’s tallest residential modular building.
It is understood that the British Standards Institution (BSI) is working with the UK government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on the production of a British Standard for MMC7 which will encompass recommended technical standards for the
production of homes manufactured by the full range of off-site systems.
References
1. Modern Methods of Construction –Guidance Notes, Government Commercial Function, 2022, Crown Copyright.
2. Homes England: Non-departmental public body set up in 2018 that funds new affordable housing in England.
3. Grenfell Tower: 24 Storey tower block fire in London which led to the deaths of 72 residents in 2017.
Figure 2.1 College Road, Croydon. Modular housing development of twin 50- and 35-metre towers. Photograph: Arthur Lyons
4. House of Lords Built Environment Committee, ‘Meeting Housing Demand’ 1st report of session 2021–2022, Published by Authority of the House of Lords on 10 January 2022.
5. Vision Modular Systems UK Ltd., ( https://wwwvisionmodular.com), Bedford.
6. Tide Construction Ltd., ( https:// tideconstruction.co.uk), London.
7. Boost for modern homebuilding as government launches work with industry to set UK-wide standard. British Standards Institution, 2023, BSI, London.
CHAPTER 3
Modern Methods of Construction – Categories and Benefits
The chapter describes the seven categories of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) as defined by the UK Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government framework1. The framework was generated in 2019 by a joint working group incorporating Buildoffsite, Homes England, NHBC2 and the RICS to regularise the terminology used by all stakeholders. The chapter describes the systems that have to date proved the most popular within the building industry, and also cites the benefits that are achieved by modular as opposed to traditional construction.
Categories of Modern Methods of Construction
Modern Methods of Construction are seen by government and many building developers as the key to increasing productivity and delivery of construction particularly in the housing sector. One manufacturer is intending to set up regional manufacturing hubs for localised production of housing, schools and hospitals. However, the quest for standardisation cannot go too far, as although, for example, bathrooms may be similar in schools and hospitals, the requirements for housing may be much more diverse.
DOI: 10.1201/9781003360469-3
There are several types of MMC, which in principle all involve the off-site production of components, offering faster build times, reduced costs and a reduction in building materials waste. Also factoryconstructed units can afford tighter quality control on tolerances and finishes compared to some on-site techniques. Factorybased robots can accurately cut, drill, nail, weld, screw, glue and spray paint. MMC is particularly favoured for the housing market as standardised units can be repeated in the production process.
The term MMC covers a wide range of systems from the modular construction of 3-D units, the production of pods, such as factory-assembled kitchens and bathrooms, the off-site manufacture panelised systems and sub-assemblies such as prefabricated roofs down to small units such as pre-assembled cabling systems.
The key categories of off-site or near-site MMC as defined by the UK Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government framework are:
Category 1 3D Primary Structural Systems – volumetric modules (Figure 3.1).
Category 2 2D Primary Structural Systems – panelised and framed systems.
Category 4 Additive manufacturing –on- or off-site manufacture by digital printing techniques.
Category 5 Pre-manufacturing of nonstructural assemblies and sub-assemblies –volumetric units (pods).
Figure 3.1 Volumetric modular homes built to Passivhaus 3 standards using Modern Methods of Construction at the Beattie Passive 4 off-site factory in Norfolk. Photograph: Courtesy of Beattie Passive
The framework was designed to regularise terminology and to increase the proportion of pre-manufactured value (PMV) within the construction industry. In addition to the five on- or near-site categories, two categories related to on-site process improvements are included within the umbrella of MMC:
Category 6 Traditional building product enhancement (e.g. the use of large format blockwork).
Category 7 On-site labour reduction and productivity improvements (e.g. the use of insulated formwork, systemised in-situ concrete systems such as tunnel form, robotic bending of steel rebar, the use of BIM to enhance workflow, the use of GPS as a site planning tool).
A white paper 5 in November 2020 by Architects Data File reported the following methods of off-site construction preferred by the construction industry. Panelised timber systems were the most popular followed by steel frame then structural insulated panels (SIPS) and cross-laminated timber (CLT). The survey also showed that architects generally felt that housing was the most appropriate sector for offsite construction, closely followed by education and student housing. Some architectural practices were using BIM (Building Information Modelling) to optimise their off-site designs, but concern was expressed over the challenge to achieve highquality design and the avoidance of homogeneity within projects. As MMC are extended, it is anticipated that architectural practice design work will move progressively towards DfMA (Design for Manufacture
and Assembly) and further away from the more traditional role.
Benefits of Modular Construction
Modular construction affords a wide range of advantages compared to traditional building techniques6 Factory operations are significantly faster than working on site which is heavily dependent on weather conditions and at certain times requires the erection of scaffolding for access or the use of specialist equipment. Repeatability ensures that the manufacture of components or built units is faster, more reliable and the necessary quality control can be more rigorous under factory conditions where visual inspections and snagging are easier and more quickly executed. Critically, overall the manufacturing processes are more energy efficient. Typically 67% less energy is consumed to produce a modular building when compared to traditional methods. On site the fabricated units can be fixed in much less time than is required for traditional building techniques such as bricklaying and placing concrete.
Modular construction requires fewer labourers on site, which significantly reduces building costs and addresses the issue of shortages in the experienced workforce. It is anticipated that over the next fifteen years, the construction industry will lose half a million workers due to retirement and the lack of new skilled labour entering the profession. With modular construction, generally less specialist equipment is required on site,
except for the necessary lifting gear required for placement of the modular units or components.
The construction industry, as a whole, produces 60% of all waste in the UK, much of which ends up in landfill sites. Modular construction under factory conditions using BIM (Building Information Modelling) assists building project managers with ordering exactly the right quantities to avoid waste and thereby cut costs. Generally, modular buildings are easier to deconstruct as a reverse of the building process. This enables more materials to be reused or recycled.
Another advantage of off-site construction is the significant reduction in road transport deliveries around the building site. This can be a reduction of up to 90% fewer vehicle movements. Also as the construction work on site is much quicker than traditional processes, disturbances to nearby residents are reduced. The reduction in traffic movements also reduces carbon emissions and limits dust and pollution within the vicinity.
It is estimated7 that the modular towers of 44 and 38 storeys built designed by HTA Design and developed by VMS8 (Vision Modular Systems®) and Tide Construction®9 at George Street, Croydon (Figure 3.2) had over 40% less embodied carbon than traditional build. Two tower blocks were constructed over a two year period with modules craned up to surround the two central concrete construction cores. The blocks were constructed as flats to rent. Over 1500 modules were built off site in Bedford and now provide 546 new homes together with social areas including gyms, gardens, residents’ lounges, café and art gallery. The main faςade incorporates large
green format terracotta cladding, glazed balustrades and featured metalwork. Currently around 8% of UK’s total construction output is modular building and it is anticipated that by 2032 around 20% of all new homes will be of modular construction.
developed by Tide Construction with Greystar Properties and Vision Modular Systems. Photograph: Arthur Lyons
Figure 3.2 Twin modular towers of 38 and 44 storeys, ‘Ten Degrees’, George Street, Croydon. Designed by HTA Design and
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Evan Lloyd being detained to give evidence on General Whitelocke’s court-martial. On the 1st of June it arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where it found one of its old colonels, MajorGeneral H. G. Grey, and was inspected by him. From the Cape the regiment sailed for Calcutta. As it was approaching the Hugli one of the transports, the Hugh Inglis, was set on fire by the carelessness of a petty officer, but the fire was extinguished without serious damage. Next day the three topmasts were carried away by a squall, and swept fourteen or fifteen men overboard with them, of whom, however, all but one were saved. The Seventeenth has gone through a good many adventures at sea between gales, founderings, fires, and service as marines.
On the 25th August the regiment was disembarked at Calcutta, 790 men strong, and did garrison duty in Fort William until December; during which time Major Cotton, the regimental quartermaster, and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and men, fell sick and died—a melancholy opening to its first term of Indian service. In the following year it was placed on the Bombay establishment, and sailing from Calcutta arrived at Bombay on the 1st February. From thence it was moved up to its destined quarters at Surat on the Tapti River, some two hundred miles north of Bombay. Two galloping guns worked by its own men were added, as was usual, to the establishment; and by a concurrence of testimony the regiment was excellently mounted.
4th June. 1809. 1809.
Early in 1810 the Seventeenth was employed on a rather curious service. At the end of 1809 there was a sudden rising of religious fanatics in Mandavi under the leadership of a man named Mean Abdul Rahman, who killed the vizier of Mandavi, and put the rajah to flight. The leader then sent a message to the English Resident, ordering him to accept Mohammedanism or fight. He added that he was come down to earth in the bodies of four great men, Adam, Jesus, Ahmad and Mean Abdul Rahman, and concluded with a request for three hundred rupees. Absurd as the matter sounds, it soon assumed a serious aspect. The news of the rising reached Surat on
1810. 1810.
the 10th January, and the people at once flocked out from the city to join the new prophet. The Mohammedans in general began to assume a threatening attitude, and attacked the Hindoos with the cry of “Deen.” In fact there were the elements of a troublesome disturbance, which in the judgment of the Resident required to be suppressed at once. Accordingly four troops of the Seventeenth, under Major Supple, and some infantry were called out and marched off to the village of Boodham, where the prophet and the most devoted of his followers were assembled. The Seventeenth outmarched the infantry, and came up with the fanatics at daybreak on the morning of the 19th January on the plain outside the village. The fanatics were summoned to surrender and give up their leader; but they replied with shouts of defiance. A feint attack was then made to intimidate them; but they simply threw up clouds of dust in the horses’ faces and dared the Seventeenth to the combat. Then the regiment attacked in earnest, and there ensued what the Resident called a “furious engagement.” The fanatics were armed with spears and small hatchets attached to bamboo shafts, twelve or fourteen feet long, with which they could inflict severe wounds; and they fought like demons. If the Seventeenth had had lances in these days they might have made short work of them; but, as things were, the fighting lasted for some time. It was not until 200 of the fanatics lay dead on the field that the bulk of them dispersed and fled to the village, where, still undefeated, they renewed the fight against the infantry and artillery. Finally the Seventeenth set fire to the village and put an end to the affair; and the leader of the fanatics, having been wounded in the first action, was captured by the infantry. Of the Seventeenth, one corporal and two privates were killed; all the officers, several privates and many of the horses were wounded. Lieutenant Adams’ helmet was cut to pieces on his head.
In this same year a detachment of the Seventeenth, under Lieutenant Johnson, accompanied Brigadier-General Sir John Malcolm on his mission to Persia. On its return in December this detachment brought with it a letter from Sir John to the Colonel, in which the former went out of his way to express his high opinion not
only of Mr Johnson, but of the non-commissioned officers, Sergeant Willock and Corporals Carrigan and Batson, who were with him. It is remarkable to note that non-commissioned officers of the Seventeenth, employed with small detachments, have never failed from the first to command the admiration of all strange officers whom it has been their duty to serve. A curious memorial of this escort was found in the ruins of Persepolis by an officer of the regiment (Lieutenant Anstruther Thomson, now Captain Anstruther) while travelling in 1888. Scratched on one of the lions at the head of the main stairway are the death’s head and cross-bones with the motto, and beneath it the name “Sergt. Robt. Willock”; and on the wall of Xerxes’ house is cut the name of “Pte. M. Cloyne, 17 L. DS. 1810.”
Before we quit this year we must add two small extracts (copied from the Calcutta Gazette) from the Dress Regulations, which gives us a faint glimpse of the transition through which the British Army was passing:—
10th October. Clubs and queues are abolished in all ranks from this date, and the hair is in future to be cut close to the neck. No powder is to be worn on duty.
This is the first beginning of the short hair, which now particularly distinguishes a soldier. Old as the queues were, the whole Army was delighted to be rid of them, though there were antique officers that regretted them to the end. At the beginning of the great war with France the War Office, which was decidedly negligent in the matter of feeding the troops in Flanders, never failed to send them shiploads of leathern queues.
8th November. Scale epaulettes are to be worn exclusively by officers of cavalry.
No shoulders have seen more vicissitudes of adornment than those of the British officer.
1810. 1811.
In December of the following year the regiment left Surat for new cantonments at Ruttapore, near Kaira, in the northern division of Guzerat. On the 1st of January following Lieutenant-Colonel Evan Lloyd was
promoted to be Major-General, and retired from the command. He was the last of the officers then doing duty with the regiment who had served with it in the American War. His successor was the Hon. Lincoln Stanhope, who came from the 16th Lancers, and was blamed by his brother officers in that corps, not without justice, for preferring “an arduous campaign in Bond Street” to duty with his regiment in the Peninsula. None the less he did good service enough with the Seventeenth.
1812. 1812.
The year 1812 brought with it a further change in the clothing. The cord lacing and the innumerable buttons that had adorned the front of the jacket were abolished, and another jacket with broad, white facings, almost as wide as a plastron, was substituted in its stead. Simultaneously the old helmet disappeared and the felt shako took its place. The old white breeches and knee-boots were likewise swept away to make room for French gray overalls, with a double white stripe, and Wellington boots. These last may perhaps have been introduced rather earlier than the other changes; the Wellington boot, according to one authority, having been prescribed for Light Dragoons in 1808. The old crimson sash of the officer made way for a girdle similar to that worn at present. White welts to the seams and a small pair of epaulettes, white for men and silver for officers, completed the transformation. When the Seventeenth received this new dress it is impossible to say; and the change is therefore recorded under the year when it was ordered, though probably not carried into effect until a year or two later. The fact that the regiment was quartered in India, of course, made in those days no difference as to the clothing issued to it, except that white covers were worn over the shakos.
In September there arose a mighty famine in Guzerat, which carried off thousands of natives. Simultaneously there broke out an epidemic fever which was as fatal to Europeans as to natives. In the four months, October 1812 to January 1813, four officers and 73 men of the Seventeenth were swept off by this fever; yet even this was a small matter to those who could remember the ravages of yellow fever in the West Indies.
In the three following years strong detachments of the regiment were employed in active service, apparently in expeditions against different hilltribes. Of the work done I have been unable to discover any record, such expeditions being too common in the early days of British rule in India to excite much interest. In December 1815 the regiment took part in an expedition into the mountains of Cutch, whither no British troops had hitherto penetrated. On the march they crossed the Ran of Cutch, which separates Guzerat from the Cutch peninsula, and being in the advanced guard were the first English soldiers to cross it. The Ran being, from all accounts, merely a bed of sand which comparatively lately had been the bottom of a sea, the accounts of the march and the description of the country filled the Indian newspapers of the period. The news of Waterloo and of the close of the great war was exhausted, so a graphic picture of the Ran was welcome.
1813 to 1815. 1816.
The capture of a couple of hill forts, Aujar and Bhooj, soon quieted Cutch; and the troops then repassed the Ran to put down some local banditti and disperse some piratical tribes on the coast. The central nest of these tribes having been taken, the work was done; and accordingly after the capture of Dwarka, on the coast to the south of the Gulf of Cutch, the field force was broken up, and the Seventeenth returned to Ruttapore. The losses of the regiment in the work of those three years are unrecorded, and, except from disease, were probably not worth mention.
Before quitting this year we must turn our eyes homeward for a moment, where rather an interesting matter was going forward. H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief, at the opening of 1816, had become bitten with the notion of forming corps of Lancers in imitation of the Polish Lancers which had done such good service to the army under Napoleon. The first idea was to attach a troop of lancers to each cavalry regiment, just as a small body of riflemen was attached to a regiment of infantry. Lord Rosslyn offered the 9th Light Dragoons for the experiment, and trained fifty picked men under the command of Captain Peters. On Saturday, 20th April, these fifty men
were reviewed in the Queen’s Riding-house at Pimlico, before a few select spectators who were admitted by ticket. The men were dressed in blue jackets faced with crimson, gray trousers and blue cloth caps, and carried a lance sixteen feet long with a pennon of the Union colours. “The opposite extremity of the lance,” continues our authority, “was confined in a leather socket attached to the stirrup, and the lance was supported near the centre by a loose string.” Such is an abridged account of the first parade of Lancers in England, taken from an extract from the Sun newspaper of 22nd August 1816, and copied into the Calcutta Gazette, whence probably it found its way to the officers’ mess of the Seventeenth.
G Salisbury
Marching Order. Review Order. PRIVATES, 1824–1829
The new year brought the regiment to more serious service in the field, namely, the Pindari
1817.
1817.
War These Pindaris in their early days had been merely the scavengers of the Mahratta armies; but they had been increasing in numbers and power in the south of Hindostan and the north of the Dekhan since 1811. Their most celebrated chiefs were two men named Kurreem and Cheettoo, who had been captured by Dowlat Rao Scindiah, but were released by him for a ransom in 1812. The Pindaris then came out as an independent body, and began incursions on a large scale. They invaded a country in bands of from one to four thousand men apiece, which on reaching the frontier broke up into parties of from two to five hundred. They earned little but their arms; they were admirably mounted, and thought nothing of marching fifty or sixty miles in a day. They lived, themselves and their horses, on plunder, and what they could not carry off they destroyed. In 1812 they were bold and strong enough to cross the Nerbuddha and invade the territory of the Rajah of Nagpore, and in 1813 they actually set fire to part of his capital. As they threatened further depredations in the Gaikwar’s territory, a force of 600 native infantry and three troops of the Seventeenth were sent to disperse them; and these repressive measures had a good effect for the time. By 1814 their numbers were reckoned at 27,000 men, “the best cavalry commanded by natives in India,” with 24 guns; and in the two following years they became more and more dangerous and troublesome. Holkar and Scindiah, being afraid of them, had both made an alliance with them, and encouraged them secretly. Moreover, the British Government was hampered in any attempt to put them down by an engagement with Scindiah, which prevented it from entering into any negotiations with the Rajpoots under Scindiah’s protection. Unless British troops could follow the Pindaris into Rajpoot territory it was of no use to advance against them, for the only way in which the Pindaris could be suppressed was by hunting them down to a man.
The capture of Bungapore in the Madras Presidency at last brought matters to a crisis. Lord Moira, the Governor-General, called upon Scindiah to disown the Pindaris and conclude a treaty with England. Scindiah signed it cheerfully on the 5th November 1816. That little farce over, he joined a general conspiracy of the Mahratta
powers to overthrow British rule in India. The Peishwar and the Rajah of Nagpore, who had also recently signed treaties of alliance with England, together with Holkar were the principal leaders of the movement. Then the Governor-General bestirred himself in earnest. He collected the Bengal, Madras, and Central armies, and fairly surrounded the whole Pindari country, the Malwa in fact, with 80,000 men. Over and above these a force, under Sir W. Grant Keir, advanced from Bombay to block up one corner on the Bombay side. It was to this force that the Seventeenth was attached, joining it at Baroda.
The Baroda force under Sir W. Keir marched on the 6th December. On the second day’s march the rear-guard was attacked by a body of Bheels—a race which, though “diminutive and wretched looking,” were “active and capable of great fatigue,” as befitted a gang of professed thieves and robbers. They were driven off by a squadron of the Seventeenth under Colonel Stanhope himself, but at the cost of an officer, Cornet Marriott, and several men and horses wounded. Sergeant-Major Hampson received an arrow in the mouth from a Bheel archer. He calmly plucked the arrow out, drew his pistol, shot the Bheel, and then fell dead—choked by the flow of blood. This affair won the Seventeenth the thanks of the General in field orders.
1817. 1818.
Of the subsequent movements of the Seventeenth in the war I have found great difficulty, from the impossibility of getting at the original despatches, in obtaining any knowledge. The great battle of the campaign was fought against Holkar’s troops at Maheidpore on the 20th December. The Seventeenth was not present at the action, though Colonel Stanhope was thanked in orders and despatches for his service as D.Q.M.G., and though immediately after it the regiment was ordered off to reinforce Sir J. Malcolm’s division for the pursuit of Holkar. On the 23rd January 1818 a treaty was make with Holkar; and the war then resolved itself into a pursuit of the other members of the conspiracy, and in particular of the Pindaris. In fact the work of the Seventeenth was a foretaste of that which it was to experience in Central India forty years later; equally difficult to trace from the
rapidity of the movements; equally hard to recount from the dearth of material and the separation of the regiment into detachments; above all equally hard on men and horses, perpetually harassed by long forced marches which led only to more forced marches for weeks and weeks together. I have only been able to gather that the men suffered not a little from the extraordinary changes of temperature, varying from 28½ to 110 degrees during the march; and that on a few odd occasions their services were such as to call down the special praise of the divisional commander These commendations are the more valuable, inasmuch as petty, though brilliant actions were very common in Central India during the early months of 1818.
1818.
19th Jan.
The first of these in which we hear of the Seventeenth is an action at Mundapie, wherein four squadrons of the regiment surprised the Pindaris, and cut down 100 of them, with the loss of one private wounded. The gallantry and rapidity of the attack, by the testimony of the General, alone saved the Seventeenth from heavier casualties. We hear next of a detachment of the regiment engaged at the capture of Fort Pallee; and next, at a more important affair, we find the whole of the Seventeenth fighting against the most renowned of the Pindari leaders, Cheettoo himself. The action recalls the history of the detachment which served under Tarleton in Carolina. It appears that Colonel Stanhope obtained information that a large body of Pindaris was within a forced march of him. He at once sent off a detachment in pursuit, which after a thirty mile march came upon the enemy, evidently by surprise, and cut down 200 of them. Cheettoo himself, conspicuous by his dress and black charger, narrowly escaped capture, and owed his safety only to the speed of his horse.[11] Captain Adams and Cornet Marriott, who had already distinguished themselves in the rear-guard action with the Bheels, were prominent on this occasion, and with the whole detachment received Sir W Keir’s thanks in division orders. On the 14th March, when Sir W. Keir’s force was broken up, two officers of
9th Feb. March.
the Seventeenth, Colonel Stanhope and Captain Thompson, were selected by the General for special approbation and thanks.
After a short rest in cantonments the regiment, towards the end of the year, resumed the chase of the Pindaris. The new year found them marching into the province of Candeish, excepting a detachment of eighty-six convalescents who, on their recovery, joined Sir W. Keir’s force in Cutch. While there it must have experienced the frightful earthquake of June 1819, which destroyed most of the Cutch towns and killed thousands of natives. Of the general movements of the Seventeenth I have been unable to discover anything. It appears that before the end of the year the regiment was back again in cantonments, and that it moved up to Cutch again in May following, still engaged at the old work. Colonel Stanhope was then entrusted with a force of between five and six thousand men, destined, it was said, for the invasion of Scinde. After six months’ encampment between Bhooj and Mandivie, the Seventeenth returned to cantonments, and the force generally was broken up. Colonel Stanhope, with a few troops which he had retained, reduced the pirate fort of Dwarka, where Cornet Marriott (now promoted Lieutenant in the 67th Foot) was mortally wounded. He was acting as Brigade-Major to Colonel Stanhope at the time, the Seventeenth not being present at the engagement.
1820. 1819.
Two more years at the Kaira cantonments brought the regiment to the end of its first term of Indian service. It marched to Cambay in November, reached Bombay by water in December, and finally sailed for England on the 9th January 1823. It had landed at Calcutta, in 1808, 790 men strong; it had lost in fourteen years, from disease and climatic causes alone, exclusive of men invalided and killed in action, 26 officers and 796 men; it had received in India 929 men and officers. It went home, after leaving behind it volunteers for different regiments, under 200 strong of all ranks. Such were the effects of cholera,—for 1818 was a bad cholera year,—general ignorance of sanitary matters, and of English clothing in the Indian climate.
GEORGE, LORD BINGHAM (EARL OF LUCAN)
1826–1837
CHAPTER XI
HOME SERVICE, 1823–1854
On their way home the Seventeenth touched at St. Helena, where they found an Army List, and therein learned for the first time that they had become a regiment of Lancers. Such were the fruits of the inspection held at the Queen’s Riding-house in Pimlico six years before. There also they heard of the death of their Colonel, Oliver Delancey, who had held that rank since 1795. He had entered the army as a Cornet in the 14th Dragoons in 1766, and joined the Seventeenth as a Captain in 1773. He had therefore held a commission in the regiment for close on fifty years when he died in September 1822. He had gained some slight reputation as a pamphleteer, and he was for many years a Member of Parliament, but it was as a soldier and an officer in the Seventeenth that he had made his mark, in the New England provinces and Carolina. He was succeeded by Lord R. Somerset, a distinguished Peninsula officer.
1823. 1823.
On the 18th May the regiment arrived at Gravesend, and marched to Chatham, where all the men, with the exception of some fifty, including non-commissioned officers, were invalided or discharged. At Chatham they returned their carbines into store; it was nearly sixty years before they received them again; and, in accordance with regulation, ceased to shave their upper lips. It must have been rather a curious time, that last half of 1823, between the growing of the moustaches, the learning of the lance exercise, and the constant influx of recruits. In those days it was, as a rule, rare for a regiment to receive above a dozen recruits in the year; and though the heavy mortality in India had caused the rapid passage of many men into the ranks, yet we may guess that the fifty old soldiers, many of whom had probably brought back with them a liver from the East, were not too well pleased at being flooded with five times their number of recruits. The spectacle of 250 bristly upper lips must in itself have been somewhat disquieting. But recruits came in fast. Before the year was out the
regiment numbered 311 men, or little below its reduced establishment, viz. six troops of 335 men with 253 horses.
The acquisition of the lance, of course, brought with it a certain change of dress. Lancers being of Polish origin, the Polish fashion in dress was of course imperative. The shako was discarded for ever, and a lance cap of the orthodox shape introduced in its place; the upper part thereof white as at present, and the plume, as ever since 1759, red and white. The officers, besides a huge pair of epaulettes, wore aiguillettes of silver, and were generally very gorgeously attired. For we are now, it must be remembered, in the reign of King George IV., and therefore every uniform is at its zenith of expense and its nadir of taste. Hence, the first lance caps were so high and heavy that they were a misery to wear; and the jackets, though in pattern unchanged, were made so tight that men could hardly cut the sword exercise.
From this point for the next thirty years the history of the regiment is merely that of home duty in England and Ireland; and as the changes of quarter are recorded in the Appendix, there is no need to repeat them here. Let it, however, be noted that the Seventeenth took the London duty for the first time in 1824, and that in the following year it found itself once more at Chichester, where we hope that it was welcomed by the Mayor and Corporation.
1825. 1824. 1826.
In 1826, George, Lord Bingham, who had exchanged into the Seventeenth eleven months before, succeeded Colonel Stanhope in command of the regiment. We shall meet with him again as Lord Lucan twentyeight years hence; not without results. Lord Bingham retained the command until 1837, and brought the regiment up to a very high pitch of efficiency. He was a keen soldier, who had taken the pains to study his profession; a very rare thing in those days; and had even taken the trouble to join the Russian army in the war of 1828–29 against the Turks, in order to gain experience of active service. He came to the Seventeenth at a time when such a commander was especially valuable, for the slack period of the British army, perhaps
inevitable after the exertions of the great war, was telling heavily on the cavalry. The drill was stiff, unpractical, and obsolete—designed, apparently, to assimilate the movements of cavalry and infantry as far as possible to each other. It was so useful (this was the pretext alleged) for officers to be able to handle horse and foot with equal facility. “It is hardly credible,” writes a critic in 1832, “that the late regulations did not contain a single formation from column into line, in which one or more of the squadrons had not to rein back as a necessary and essential part of the movement.” Even when this was altered, officers were still posted in the ranks instead of in front of their troops. At this time, too, and for years after, changes of formation were always carried out to the halt. A regiment that required to take ground to the right, wheeled into “columns of troops to the right,” to the halt; then advanced as far as was necessary, then halted, and then wheeled into line, once again to the halt. In many regiments “field cards” were issued, “drawn out in all the pride of red ink,” with each movement numbered and marked in its regular succession; and thus the programme for the day of review was rehearsed for weeks beforehand.
Lord Bingham had not long been in command before the uniform of the regiment was again changed. When the change was made I cannot with accuracy say; but in 1829 we find the white lapel-like facings on the jacket done away with, and a plain blue jacket with white collar and cuffs preferred in its place. The old red and white plume also disappears at this period for ever, and a black plume is worn in its stead.
1829. 1830.
A year later King William IV came to the throne and made yet another change. Whether from jealousy of the colour of his own service, the Navy, or from whatever cause, he clothed the whole Army, except the artillery and riflemen, in scarlet. The Lancer regiments, one and all, were accordingly arrayed in a double-breasted scarlet jacket with two rows of buttons and gorgeous embroidery, and blue overalls with a double scarlet stripe. The plume for the officers was of black cocktail feathers; and as the cap was very high, and measured ten
inches square at the top, and the plume was sixteen inches long, it may be guessed that heads were sufficiently covered. Large gold epaulettes and gold cap-lines with large gold tassels completed the dress. Those were merry days for the army tailor, if not for the Army. That there were curses both loud and deep from the service we need not doubt; but the King at least permitted the Seventeenth to retain its facings, which was more than he allowed to the Navy. With almost incredible want of tact the sailor-king altered the time-honoured white facings of the Navy to scarlet. Happily neither of these changes lasted long; though the appropriation of gold lace to the regular army, and the relegation of silver to the auxiliary forces, has continued to be the rule up to the present day. As a finishing touch to the trials of the Lancers at this period, a general order compelled the shaving of the moustaches which had been so carefully cultivated for the previous eight years.
From 1828 to 1832 the Seventeenth was quartered in Ireland. In the latter year they encountered an old Indian enemy in Dublin, namely Asiatic cholera, by which they lost three men. On crossing to England in June they were isolated for some months, lest they should spread the disease from their quarters.
1828–32. 1833.
In the following year the regiment was reviewed by King William IV. in Windsor Park. After the review the King invited the officers to dinner, and reminded them then that he had inspected the Seventeenth half a century before at New York. It is noteworthy that one officer, who was still borne on the strength of the regiment, had served with it at that time. Sir Evan Lloyds’ name still appeared on the roll as senior lieutenant-colonel; and thus there was at least one man who could say that he had worn both the scarlet and gold and the scarlet and silver. Nor must we omit to add that among those who witnessed the review on that day was the future colonel-in-chief of the regiment, Prince George of Cambridge, then a boy of fourteen. Thus the lives of two colonels of the Seventeenth actually bridge over the gulf between the American War of Independence and the fifty-eighth year of Queen Victoria. Sir Evan Lloyds’ name remained on the
regimental list from 1785 until 1836, when he was appointed to the colonelcy of the 7th Dragoon Guards.
The year 1834 witnessed the abolition of a timehonoured institution, namely, the squadron standards. A relic of feudal days, which had kept its significance and its value up to the first years of the great Civil War, the troop or squadron standard had long been obsolete. In fact it is rather surprising that such standards should ever have been issued to Light Dragoons. Nevertheless they survived to a time within the memory of living men in all cavalry regiments, and are fortunately still preserved, together with the blue dress and axes of the farriers and other historic distinctions, in that walking museum of the British cavalry, the Household Brigade.
The year 1837 found the headquarters of the Seventeenth at Coventry for the first time since 1760, when it had but just sprung into existence. On this occasion we may hope that it was allowed to remain in the town during the race meeting. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the regiment should have opened the two longest reigns on record, those, namely, of King George III. and Queen Victoria, in the same quarters. In this same year Lord Bingham retired from the command, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pratt, who in his turn gave place after two years to Lieutenant-Colonel St. Quintin.
1841. 1842. 1834. 1837. 1840.
In 1840 the Light Dragoons and Lancers discarded the scarlet which had been imposed upon them, and reverted once more to the blue jackets and the overalls of Oxford mixture, which had been ordained in 1829. In 1841 the Seventeenth, after a three years’ stay in Ireland, was moved to Scotland; its first visit to North Britain since 1764. Coming down to Leeds in the following year it received a new colonel in the person of Prince George of Cambridge, the present Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Under his command the regiment was employed in aid of the civil power to suppress serious riots in the manufacturing districts in August 1842. In the
following year, headquarters and three troops of the regiment being stationed at Birmingham, there occurred an accident which, after fifty years, sounds almost incredible. The men had just left barracks, in watering order, for the exercise of the horses, and were about to pass under an arch of what in the infancy of railways was called the “Liverpool line,” when an engine, with its whistle shrieking loudly, passed over the arch at a high speed. In an instant every horse swung violently round, dismounting almost, if not actually, every man, and the whole hundred of them stampeded wildly back through the streets to their stables. Many of the men were injured, some so seriously that they had to be carried back to barracks; and all this came about through the now familiar whistle of a railway engine. The incident gives us a momentary glimpse of one feature in the England of half a century ago.
1843. 1848. 1850. 1844.
Next year the regiment took part in the review held by the Queen in honour of the Czar of Russia. Another ten years was to see it fighting that Czar’s army, and helping to break his heart. The vicissitudes of a regiment’s life are strange, and the Seventeenth had its share thereof in the forties: first putting down rioters at Leeds; then marching past the Czar at Windsor; then rushing across to Ireland to maintain order there during the abortive insurrection headed by Smith O’Brien; and, finally, escorting Her Majesty Queen Victoria on her first entry into the city of Dublin. The year 1850 brought it back to England once more, where, after one bout of peace manœuvres at Chobham, it at last received orders, for the first time for thirty-four years, to hold itself in readiness for active service. The warning came in February 1854, and the scene of action was destined to be the Crimea.
