Tarran Clyde House

The Tarran Clyde House

Following completion of a large number of Tarran temporary bungalows, the renamed Tarran-Clyde company produced this semi-detached cottage block. Glasgow built a prototype block of 2 units at Garscube in 1947.

Formerly Classified as a defective in Scotland under Part 14 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 see; the structural condition of Doran Myton new build and Tarran Houses – BRE Report 1984. 
From 30 July 2018 the designation was repealed by section 99 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

DATE BUILT  Glasgow; 1947

NUMBER BUILT
2 units built at Garscube.
226 units; Built at Aberdeen, Kincardine & Deeside, Kirkcaldy, Monklands, Perth & Kinross, Renfrew. Scotland

CONSTRUCTION
Single storey pre-cast vibrated reinforced concrete units bolted together.

EXTERNAL WALLS
Precast concrete units are bolted together and covered inside with panels of light timber framing and 10 mm plasterboard onto which a plaster skim was applied. The outer facings were of specially selected and graded gravel aggregate. The gable ends were of fluted asbestos cement sheeting
FLOORS
The ground floor was generally covered with 13 mm pitch mastic and quarry tiles to the kitchen floor. The rear lobby, WC and larder floors were of pitch mastic.

UPPER FLOOR: Steel frames were constructed using channel section members and 16 mm tongue-and groove timber flooring.

CEILINGS & ROOFS Ceilings: 10 mm plasterboard on a light timber frame.

Roof: Trusses were of rolled-steel section with wind bracing.
The roof panels were laid on trusses and consisted of 13 mm T & G boarding nailed to a timber frame and covered with copper sheeting .

Partitions: These were light timber sections with 10 mm plasterboard and a skim coat of plaster on both sides.
The party wall consisted of 2 normal external walls, with a 19 mm cavity and panels of light timber framing and plasterboard,as before.
The precast concrete slabs were 50 mm thick in the roof space.

Possible Defects: Gradual deterioration of reinforced concrete frame components as a result of carbonation of the concrete and in some cases the presence of chloride leading to corrosion of the steel reinforcement.

Common Improvements : New external render / External Wall Insulation / new roof.

Additional information
A feature of the blocks built in Glasgow is that in one property, the back-boiler in the living room provided hot water to radiators in the dining room and two bedrooms. The dining room radiator embodied in its design an electric or gas fire which can be used to provide extra heat in cold weather.

A large number of systems were built using precast concrete panels and concrete frames designed to speed up erection of the external wall. These include; Blackburn Orlit, Cornish Unit, Dorran, Lindsay (Ayrshire County Council), Myton, Orlit, Tarran-Clyde, Tee Beam, Unitroy and Whitson-Fairhurst.

The systems vary but they commonly use a concrete precast frame jointed on site and in-filled with panels or blocks.
The most common jointing method was bolting or hooking components together and grouting or casting concrete around the joint to give a continuous structure and to protect the steel from corrosion.

The systems relied heavily on the jointing being carried out correctly. The systems did not cater for imperfect workmanship and failures occurred.

All of the systems listed above have had some or all of their houses classified as a defective in Scotland under Part 14 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, however in 2018, this designation was repealed by the Scottish Government and pertains to properties in Scotland only.