REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 54, 5 March 1926, Page 11

REAL ESTATE.

LAND AND BUILDINGS. ANOTHER NEW STRUCTURE. CONTRACT FOR £3t),000 LET. WAREHOUSE IN CHANCERY LANE. Work is to commence almost at once on a now five-storeyed structure in Chancery Lane for the National Mutual Life Assurance Company of Australasia. The building, which is to cost in the vicinity of £30.000, will have a frontage of 131 ft to Chancery Lane, and 84ft to Fields Lane. It will be erected behind Williamson's Buildings, in which the offices of the company are at present located. It is stated that the new building will be used only as a warehouse, and that the company will remain in its present offices. The new building will be let as desired, and each of the five floors will have an approximate floor space of 1000 square feet. The lighting of the warehouse will be obtained from large windows on the two frontages, and also an area facing north. The entire structure will be fireproof, and be provided with a concrete roof. The exterior will be finished in white Atlas cement, and entrance will be gained through two doors, one at each end of the building, a ramp in the centre giving access to traffic. The basement will be set about iOft below the level of the ground floor, and will be reached by a ramp. The building will be constructed in modern warehouse style, and will make a handsome addition to that part of the city. A number of old buildings will have to be demolished to make way for the new structure, and the work will be commenced at once. The building operations are expected to occupy a year. Messrs. Goldsboro and Carter are the architects, and Messrs. J. T. Julian and Son, Ltd., are the contractors. PERMITS FOR FEBRUARY. A large increase in the number of building permits issued by the Auckland City Council is noticeable for February of this year, when compared with the figures for the same month of last year. For February, 1926, 245 permits were issued at a total co3t of £148,503. There were 6G new elwellings irteluded in these figures. For the same period of last year, the permits totalled £122,099, there being 47 dwellings. Several big contracts were asked for last month, and chief among these were a warehouse for A. Spencer, in Anzac Avenue, at a cost of £27,980; a factory in Anzac Avenue for A. E. Bagnall for £20,000; a factory in Albert Street, at a cost of £64?5, And additions to the Commercial Hotel, costing £6500. Last year permits were issued for the Southern Cross Assurance Company, in Chancery Lane, at a cost of £30,005, and additions to the Maple Furnishing Company in Newton were put down to cost £10,395. The above figures will give a good idea of the fact that the building operations in the city havo not decreased, but that they are steadily increasing, showing that ' there is still sustained activity in tho building lino in Auckland. Matters are moving apace for the erection of a new theatre for Messrs. J. C. Williamson, Ltd., and in that direction it may be said that four shops in Queen Street are now advertising selling-out sales. The shops in question are Messfs. Falkiner and Company, umbrella makers; Messrs. Lillicraps, music emporium; Messrs. J. H. Dalton, men's outfitters; and Messrs. C. and W. Alexander, antique dealers. These four shops cmba_ce a large frontage, and give some idea of what the size of the new theatre -will be. This is also another Indication that old buildings are fast disappearing to give place to more modern and up-to-date premises, for which the city of Auckland is now becoming noted. NOTES FROM THE SOUTH. The existence of a house shortage is now disputed by those best qualified to express an opinion in Wellington— people with rooms to let. Whereas they had no difficulty formerly in obtaining tenants, they now find it extremely difficult to do so. In cite suburb tenders have been called tor 50 bouses, with, a further 200 to follow. Extensive alterations are being made to the interior of the Chrisfcclmrch Post Office, to enable access to be obtained to all departments, without the necessity of going out of the building. Among the improvements are a new doorway at the south-east corner, many new writing-desks in the savings bank and money order department, and an increased number of private ma.il boxes. Of 95 building permits issued this month by the Christchurch City Council, 48 are for dwellings. At this rate of construction the housing shortage should soon disappear. STEEL HOUSES. Two thousand steel -houses are to be erected in Scotland to relieve a Grievously felt shortage of homes for the people. The British Government is subsidising the scheme. For a long time a controversy raged over the cost and time spent in building houses of customary material. The Government tried to expedite matters by offering a subsidy of £40 to the Scottish boroughs to help them produce 4000 houses that were required. Finally ill December, Mr. Baldwin, the Prime Minister, intervened on the ground that not more than a third of the required houses had been built. He withdrew the subsidy, and announced that 2000 houses would be ordered at once from the National Housing Company, and break through any opposition offered by the local authorities or the private building interests. The steel house invented by Lord Weir is made in parts at the and fastened together on its designated site. The cost is somewhere about £100. It has a wood frame, to which steel sheets are attached outside, and asbestos cement sheets inside. In principle it is not -widely different from the fibroeement houses that have been erected in large numbers for many years past.