CONTEXT 183 : MARCH 2025 5 UK by highlighting the technology behind its construction. The Construction History Society has its own YouTube channel on which have been posted all the talks from the society’s 2021 annual conference, and other talks may be added in the future. These can be accessed at www.youtube.com/@ constructionhistorysociety3794/ playlists. The society has made its X/Twitter account dormant and has set up an account on Bluesky: @constructionhist. bsky.social. It seems that many other organisations are taking the same route. Construction History Construction History, the international journal of the Construction History Society, casts its net widely and Vol 39, No 2, 2024 is no exception. The papers include the US movement for mass-produced concrete housing, 1900 to 1924; the search for earthquake-resistant construction systems in Chile after the 1906 Valparaiso earthquake; and the construction of the anechoic (silence test) chamber at the Building Research Station. Two papers may be of particular interest. The first is a paper written by authors at the Polytechnic Universities of Madrid and Cartagena, about the disconnect between the technical knowledge represented in historic manuscripts and actual building practice as evidenced through a physical structure itself. The paper reminds us of the importance of interrogating historical sources. It raises questions about the validity of historic building manuals and treatises, and asks whether the technical authors really were in possession of all of the detailed knowledge necessary to build the structures they described. If they were not, who actually possessed the relevant expertise during the construction process, and how should we interpret historic manuscripts written by architects and engineers? Although the case study is from Spain, the lessons could have interesting implications for practice by heritage professionals here. Second, a paper describes the John Laing and Son photographic collection, comprising more than 230,000 images of the company’s work over more than a century as a major UK civil engineering and housebuilding business. The paper looks at how the imagery drives a specific and intended presentation of Laing, using photography to create an identity both of the company as a corporate body and as a mechanism to encourage a particular character within its workforce. The paper by Tony Presland looks at the use of photographic images in advertising, branding, and internal and external documents. It concludes that it is not possible to identify any unique aspects of Laing’s approach to its corporate identity. SPAB Magazine In the Winter 2024 edition of the SPAB Magazine, SPAB chief executive Matthew Slocombe highlights an issue that might concern heritage practitioners, arising in parallel with the revision of the National Planning Policy Framework. The text of the NPPF’s heritage section remains unchanged but the government has taken the opportunity once again to ask about application fees. Although no fees are currently levied for submitting a scheme for a listed building, the SPAB has responded that such fees could act as an additional burden on owners and a deterrent to seeking consent; but that if a reasonable fee could ensure a speedy, well-informed decision, and revenue could be fenced in law for conservation advice, there might be a general benefit in such a change. It will be interesting to note the response of other heritage bodies and the outcome of this enquiry in due course. The Winter issue particularly concentrates on the climate crisis and how historic buildings can manage, adapt and recover from the impact of water. It identifies CONSTRUCTION ____HISTORY Volume 39, No. 2 2024 ____ International Journal of the Construction History Society CONSTRUCTION HISTORY Volume 39, No. 2 2024 CONSTRUCTION HISTORY International Journal of the Construction History Society Vol. 39 No. 2 (2024) CONTENTS Editorial Inge Bertels, Nicholas Bill, Michael Chrimes, Sarah Melsens, Yiting Pan, and David Yeomans i Theory and Practice in Sixteenth-Century Stonecutting: The ‘Bóveda de Murcia’ in the Manuscript of Alonso de Vandelvira Enrique Rabasa-Díaz, José Calvo-López, Pau Natividad-Vivó 1 The U.S. Movement for Mass-Produced Concrete Housing, 1900 to 1924 Etien Santiago 23 The Search for Earthquake-Resistant Construction Systems in Chile after 1906 Valparaíso Earthquake Sandro Maino, Stephen Tobriner 51 Constructing Identity: The Photographic Archive of John Laing and Son Ltd’s UK Operations, 1914-2002 Tony Presland 81 Revolutionising Engineering Under Duress: The Qi River Project’s Impact on Lock Engineering and Cement Innovation During the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945 Zhenyu Zhu, Haiqing Li 103 Free Fields and Four Foot Walls: Constructing the First Silent Test Chamber at the Building Research Station Fiona Smyth 133 Book Reviews The Fabric Accounts of Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, 1292-1396 Edited by Tim Ayres, Translations and Transcriptions by Maureen Jurkowski The Imperial Underbelly. Workers, Contractors, and Entrepreneurs in Colonial India and Scandinavia Edited by Gunnel Cederlöf Interwar: British architecture 1919-39 by Gavin Stamp 157 159 162
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