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"hard brick or dry rubbish or concrete or other suitable
materia]" where such excavation is not required for the foundations,
&c., of the building. It is further prescribed that the whole
site shall be covered with good concrete at least six inches thick
and that the foundations shall be bedded in at least nine inches
of concrete, projecting four inches beyond the lowest course of
the footings. On a natural bed of gravel the concrete under the
footings may be omitted with the approval of the district
surveyor.
Air Space.—Ample air space should be secured for new
buildings, or buildings re-constructed (with certain reservations),
by the provisions dealing with the width of streets and the laying
out thereof, and with the lines of frontage and the height of
buildings; by the compulsory provision of open spaces in rear of
all dwelling-houses, and the limit of "the angle of construction";
and by the limitations to the formation of shafts and to the
depth of offsets from the main building.
There is no express statement as to the minimum width of a
new street, but the Council have the power to refuse to sanction
the plans of any new street for carriage traffic of a width under
40 feet, and they may, under certain circumstances, demand that
the width be 60 feet, and in the case of a road for foot traffic
only, the implied minimum is 20 feet. Any street of 60 feet
length, or of a length greater than the width, must be open at
both ends from the ground upwards and must communicate with
a street at either end. The line of frontage is to be at least 20
feet distant from the centre of a roadway for carriage traffic
and 10 from the centre of a roadway for foot passengers only.
The distance is to be measured from the centre of the roadway
to the front wall of the house, if there be no forecourt, or to the
front boundary of any forecourt or garden. The Council are
empowered under special circumstances to allow the line of frontage
to be advanced, or they may demand that it shall be set back,
but not farther than 30 feet from the centre of the road.
The height of a building is to be measured from the surface
of the street or ground previous to excavation, to the top of the
parapet, or of the external wall or to base of gable, as the case
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