BIG COLD STORE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 106, 7 May 1938, Page 20

BIG COLD STORE.

AUCKLAND'S EXPORTS.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.

PROGRESS ON NEW SCHEME,

A tracery i>f steel columns and b«ms ag.iinst the skyline on Auckland's eastern ■waterfront, the big new building designed to meet the export requirements of the primary industries of the province, is ii'iw approaching the stage when the publiv will lie able to form some idea of the tizp i.f tiie undertaking. Eight storeys in height, ami occupying an ;nv;i of 31.000 square feet. with dimensions! or' 141 ft from oast to we.-i and 220 ft from north to south, when finished it will be one of the largest industrial blocks in Auckland, and %he equipment will be the most modern of it* kind in the Dominion. A year ago. when the preparation ot the. plans were put in hand, it was announced that the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company had acquired from tho Auckland Harbour Board the leasehold of ".} acres of land # on the reclamation between the Tower Board station and the access road to the vehicular ferrv landing, the site being half the area of the reclaimed land abutting on this portion of the waterfront. Since then a great deal of work has been clone. Operations connected with the niakinc and driving of the heavy reinforced concrete piles to cany the building were commenced eipht months ago, and it is on these foundations that the *teel skeleton is being raised. Because of the nature of the site it has been necessary to drive down to the rock beneath the original harbour bed, a work which has involved in the planning and execution a large amount of technical and manual labour.

Completed Next Year. '■We hope to have the building completed by the end of next year," said Mr. A. G. Brown, »eneral manager of the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company to-day. "It will be a huge cold store consisting of a. ground floor and five storeys for storage purposes above which will be a sixth storey containing refrigerator units stich as ammonia coils, brine sprays and air fans. The eighth floor will be used for the purposes of the company'g head office." Mr. Brown explained that the subsidiary one-storey building already completed on the site would conta'in the men's dressing rooms, the ice-makin«» rooms and a garage. A further eingle°storey structure, with an area ot' 27.000 square feet, would be erected parallel to this building, and would house the elec-trically-driven ammonia compressors and other plant and machinery necessary for the operation of a large-scale cold store. Referring to the laying of the foundations for the main building, Mr. Brown said this was a huge task. A total of 1700 roinforced concrete piles had to be constructed, of vaaying lengths, from 25ft to 45ft, and -weighing from 2| tons to 4J tons each, with diameters of 14in to 16in. Of these, some had been driven in singles and pairs, but the majority were in clusters of from 5 to 9, the tops of the piles in each cluster being capped with reinforced concrete, and the various clusters then being tied together by the same means. Cold storage accommodation would be provided for 500,000 boxes, or 15,000 tons, of butter, Mr. Brown continued, and the equipment for the handling of the produce constantly passing through the works would consist of 19 elevators and 24 belt convevors.

"The stores will be served by a comprehensive system of railway sidings," he said, "and these will be connected with the railways yards and the wharves. Ten entrances will provide accommodation for motor lorries delivering butter from coastal vessels and from other sources."

Sapid Loading of Ships. He stated that when the HarbouT Board's new export wharf wae built, opposite the new cold storage buildings, loading operations would be carried out by means of an elevated roadway above the wharf level, the butter being taken direct from the stores to the ships' holds. If the new wharf wae not completed by the time the cold storage accommodation was ready for use, the butter would be conveyed to- loading steamers at the existing wharves in insulated railway wagons. Some of the larger items of materials to be used in the construction of the , block of buildings, were given by Mr. , Brown. The quantity of concrete, he 1 said, would amount to 14,570 cubic yarde, lor over 26,000 tons; the weight of eteel would be 3180 tons; and the number of bricks would be 510,000. At least 266,000 square "feet-of cork, in slabs 3in thick, would be required for insulating the walls of the refrigerated chambers. The company which was undertaking this expansion programme was owned entirely toy farmers of the Auckland province, concluded Mr. Brown. Ite present King's wharf storee had a capacity of 450,000 boxes of butter, and the value of the produce handled at the company's various works .for the last production year was £14,000,000.