Concrete - Airey Block

The Airey House is a post-war prefabricated concrete box structure which is formed from closely spaced storey-height columns of Steel tube reinforced concrete columns to which thin concrete cladding panels are fastened with copper Wire. The embedded steel in the structural concrete columns has eroded over the years due to the lack of concrete cover to the reinforcing tube (particularly at the ends of the columns), carbonation of the concrete and the presence of chlorides. This has resulted in insufficient structural integrity of the columns to support the first floor and roof and to transmit vertical loading to the foundations. Plasmor, in collaboration with Leeds City Council, developed a concrete block structural remedial system which is designed to encase the existing concrete columns and assume the structural integrity of the respective elevations in Airey Houses. The Plasmor Airey System comprises of three block types; the Airey block, Airey cut corner and Airey reveal.