NEW HOSPITAL AT CASHMERE

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26869, 23 October 1952, Page 11

NEW HOSPITAL AT CASHMERE

ELECTRICITY CUTS DELAY BUILDERS

NEED FOR UNINTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLY Recommendations on the best method of ensuring an uninterrupted supply of electric power during the construction of the new Cashmere Hospital were made to the North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday by the board’s building committee. The committee said there were four possible approaches. An application could be made through the Health Department to the State Hydro-electric Department, asking that the Heathcote county’s allocation be increased by the small amount necessary to provide an uninterrupted supply to the site on a priority basis during power cuts; the contractor could install a stand-by plant to meet his own needs during cuts; the board could install a temporary stand-by plant; or the board could install a permanent stand-by plant for use in the operation of the first stage of the hospital. The committee said the power cuts each day had delayed work at the site, and that was a factor which could be expected each winter during the construction. It recommended the .adoption of the first suggested approach to the problem, and stated that the Director-General of Health (Dr. J. Caimey) had been advised of the difficulty. It was reported that basement excavation for all blocks had “been completed at Cashmere. Mass concrete had been placed in blocks A and D, and a start had been made on placing foundation steel in block D. All the remforcement for the deep part of block F had been placed, and the concreting of those foundations was well advanced. Further lifts of concrete had been poured in the basement walls of block B. The average number of men employed on the site during August was 48.