TERMINAL BUILDING AT HAREWOOD

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27614, 22 March 1955, Page 12

TERMINAL BUILDING AT HAREWOOD

Mr Shand’s Reasons For Temporary Plan

Baeaaae af Oto ■naaßafactory 1 state toe araaaat teriahm tacilMes. partkalsrly far araaeas pasamgan, at the Christchurch ahrpart, the Minister in ebarre of I Clan Avtatian (Mr T. P. Shand) has rrr aarai mind the City Ceaned to ptan far temporary improveaseate adeqaate far the projected traffic increase aver eifht to M . years. In a letter to the Mayer (Mr B. M. Macfartane, MP.) the Minister has offered the fall cooperation of the Civil Aviation Affinlnistration in sech a project, and undertook to recommend to the Government that any expenditure be part el the 59-59 agreement between the Government and the council. After stating his reasons for considering that the council should not proceed with the building o f a permanent terminal, the Minister said two possibilities appeared worth gatingA moderate extension of existing facilities would serve internal passenger services, while the addition of plumbing and heating and ceilings in the overseas terminal would make a vast improvement. An alternative would be to extend the present internal terminal as a temporary structure to provide overseas facilities in another wing. That would free a valuable hangar for the purpose for which it was built. Answering those who deplored any expenditure on temporary buildings, the Minister said: “It would be unwise to estimate a useful life of more than 20 years for any terminal facilities which would be designed now. Interest and depreciation on a £300,000 venture of this nature would have to oe allowed for at something like £20.000 a year, which can be set off against (he cost of any temporary structure.” He approached the problem of Harewood from three angles, said the Minister. First, from the point of view of fitting the project intp a national plan for civil aviation development; second, from the advisibility of proceeding with permanent plans in the present state of knowledge of terminal development; and, third, from an assessment of its urgency in comparison with other public and private buildings in Christchurch. Vast Programme The Government had had for some time a technical committee investigating airfield and airways development Its task was not yet completed, but the Minister had had an interim finding, and there was a vast programme ahead involving very substantial expenditure over probably 10 years, merely for those works for which the need was already apparent. “Airfield development is aptly described as work of national and local importance.” he said, “for while the development of Harewood is of particular significance to Christchurch people, it is only of value if similar developments have taken place elsewhere. •‘With airways, as with railways, the best station in the world is only of value if there are trains running fremi it to other stations with which there can be an exchange of passengers and goods. Rongotai’s Priority “Sharing the head of the list, in my view, stand Rongotai airfield and certain land purchases for fields which will have to be developed in the future —areas which might if we delay toe long become built over, with consequent extra cost when they are finally reouired.”

Rongotai took priority because of Wellington’s dominant position in airways services, continued Mr Shand. More than a quarter of the bookings by internal airlines originated or ended at Wellington. There was also par-

ticular urgency because the existing field at Paraparaumu was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Rongotai was particularly important to Christchurch, as it would provide quick feeder services to the Harewood overseas terminal. Of almost equal importance, the Minister considered, were the sealing of such airfields as Nelson. Palmerston North and Invercargill, which no longer provided reasonable serviceability for the volume of traffic they were required to handle. Those works would proceed on a half Government, half local body basis. The of a field at Dunedin was only less urgent because it must wait until air services were equipped with aircraft which could meet the restrictions of the area. “Concurrently with tile development of fields we must provide equipment ranging from fire engines to ground controlled landing equipment to maintain and improve the standards of safety and regularity,” the Minister said, “while within a very few years both National Airways and TJELA.L. will require to be re-equipped with more modern aircraft.” He quoted the examples to emphasise that the works which he considered took precedence over permanent terminal buildings at Harewood not to be undertaken at the expense of the city, but were essential before full use could be made of the excellent field provided, the Minister stated. Planning off Facilities The second reason for believing a permanent building must wait was the precaution of making sure that present plans for permanent buildings were the most suitable. Functional planning of airport facilities was a specialised science in which there were no New Zealand authorities, and the Minister proposed to bring experts from the United States to assess the needs of Harewood as well as other airports. “There are many types of airport terminal buildings, each of which fits a particular need, and it is only an elementary precaution that we should be sure we have buildings that will serve efficiently for present-day and future requirements,” the Minister continued. “If the council and the Government are to commit themselves to an expenditure of something like £300.000 then they have a duty to ratepayers and taxpayers respectively to ensure that the design decided upon will be of lasting value.” Use off Labour The third light in which every , major building project must be examined was: “Is it really necessary ! to apportion labour and materials to this project at the present time?” Mr Shand said he was very conscious of the large programme of

urgent buildings required in Christchurch —postal buildings, schools, railway station, hospitals—and knew that the City Council had its own programme.. Knowledge that the power problem; of the South Island would be over; in 1957 was bound to stimulate still! further the expansion of manufac- ’ turing an i the demand for commercial ‘ buildings and there was an ever-: present d mand for still more houses.' Building resources employed on arr airport tei ninal building must surely! be diverted from one of those, fields. No-one could estimate with any pretence to accuracy when the pressure would ease, and it was rather in relation to the civil aviation programme that he put forward 1960 as a tentative date for beginning construction on the permanent terminal building. After thanking the council for its co-operation, the Minister said that even if work at Harewood was to have priority, conditions there were so bad in some respects that temporary relief measures would be necessary.