Space Heating Plans For New Windsor Home Await Approval

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 20

Space Heating Plans For New Windsor Home Await Approval

Final approval for the building of the Windsor home for the aged appears to depend on Government policy concerning the installation of space heating by electricity in part of the building. The general plan of the Christchurch Aged People’s Welfare Council to erect a 25 000 sq. ft. home in New Brighton road. Shirley, has been approved by the Health Department. But there has been no approval yet of the working drawings. Both the architect of the building (Mr G. S. R. Fenton) and the chairman of the executive committee of the council (Dr. H. R. Donald) agree that electric heating is desirable in the 45 single bedrooms and five double bedrooms of the home. Elsewhere, in the corridors, the infirmary, and general rooms, the plans provide for hot water radiators connected to an oil-burning furnace. If electric heating is not permitted in the bedrooms the council may not be able to afford to run the home. Apart from much greater capital outlay for the central heating in the wing of private bedrooms, the extra running cost would amount to several thousand rounds a year, said Dr. Donald. Furthermore, this type of heating was undesirable for elderly people as it made rooms unhealthily hot and stuffy, he said.

The architect’s drawings specify a centrally controlled, thermostatic timeswitch for the electric system with individual switches in the rooms. The building, which will be of brick veneer, with a central two-storeyed block of cavity brick and cedar weatherboarding is expected to take about 18 months to erect. A £3 for £1 subsidy by the Government is available to swell the sum collected by the

Christchurch Rotary Club for the council last year if the plans are approved. In addition to the rooms for those persons who are fit, there is a 14-bed infirmary in the plans. This is divided into eight wards. There are rooms for a matron, sub-matron and three nurses as well as for a domestic staff of six. The laundry plan includes a huge washing machine which can hold 631 b of dry laundry and a hydro-extractor and dryer. The laundry will also' cater for elderly persons who do not live at the Windsor home. The kitchen will be fitted with gas cookers and stainless steel benches and tables. The whole home will be lined with a recently developed fibrous plaster and perlite board which is fire resistant. There will be 7ft plastic dadoes round the bathrooms. After the Windsor home, the council is considering plans for another home on a section given some years ago by Mr and Mrs Hennessy, of Lyttelton street. Dr. Donald said yesterday that this site might hold a home of 40 to 50 beds.