1. Unit 17 Building regulations and control in construction
The Great Fire of London

2. The Great Fire of London
• Started Sunday, 2 September 1666
• The fire broke out in the bakery in Pudding Lane, a narrow street of timbered buildings and wattle-and-daub shelters
• Once fire took hold in the bakery it spread swiftly.

3. The Great Fire of London
• A servant living above the bakery raised the alarm
• The household jumped to safety from the roof – except for a maid, who became the fire’s first victim
• The fire was fanned by an east wind and it spread to buildings in Thames Street, St Boltoph’s Lane and Fish Street Hill

4. The Great Fire of London
• Many buildings surrounding the bakery had storerooms full of materials such as oil, pitch, hemp and tar which fuelled the fire
• The heat was so intense nobody could get close enough to fight the flames
• The fire lasted four days and four nights spreading over two miles and destroying 80% of London

5. The rebuilding of London
• This was seen as a way of organising the layout of the city
• Unfortunately this meant compensating many landowners; however, neither the government nor the King had the finances to accomplish this

6. The Commission for Rebuilding
Commissioners for Rebuilding were appointed in October 1666.
• Christopher Wren
• Robert Hooke, of the Royal Society
• Hugh May, a royal official with architectural experience
• Robert Pratt, architect
• Edward Jerman, City man
• Peter Mills, the City Surveyor,

7. Rebuilding Act 1667
The first Rebuilding Act was passed by Parliament in February It named four types of building:
• Two floors high with an attic and cellar on by-lanes
• Three stories and built on larger streets
• Four floors high and built on main roads
• Mansions with fewer restrictions than the other three but still restricted to four stories plus cellar and attic

8. Rebuilding Act 1667
• No matter what the function of the building, it had to be built in brick or stone
• Timber buildings were forbidden
• There could be no projections over the streets, as this allowed fire to leap from house to house