COVERED BERTHS AT BLUFF

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28530, 8 March 1958, Page 8

COVERED BERTHS AT BLUFF

Board To Consult

Professor Hopkins "The Press” Special Service

BLUFF, March 7. The Bluff Harbour Board bas decided to get an expert engineering opinion on the proposal that a hangar-type building should be erected to protect the two coastal and inter-colonial berths of the new harbour from the weather. The board has adopted a recommendation from its works committee that Professor H. J. Hopkins, dean of the engineering faculty ,of the University of Canterbury, should be engaged to supply a report on the subject, dealing with the structural work and the probable cost. He will not deal with the economics of the proposal. Mr E. N. Adams, chairman of the board, has said that it is fundamental that the board should ascertain as early as possible the probable cost of the structure. The cost would largely decide whether the structure should be built in the near future or should be regarded as a long-term project. Professor Hopkins attended a meeting of the works committee last week and discussed the matter - i s a rec °Sni s ed authority and acted as consulting engineer for the Christchurch-Lyttelton tunnel road scheme. The professor has said that the erection of a building of the type required was quite feasible. For the board it was a question whether the cost would be justified.

Mr Adams told the board at its meeting that because of alleged delays to coastal shipping the coastal shipping companies had imposed a surcharge of 5s a ton on Bluff cargo. The saving of this surcharge would help to justify the cost of covering the berths. The possibility of building veranda-like structures on the wharves instead of a large building to cover the whole berthage area had been discussed. Professor Hopkins had pointed out that, because of the nature of their construction, the vedanda-like structures might cost as much as the hangar building. There are no similar structures in any other part of the world as the proposed hangar-type building, but Professor Hopkins quoted the Milan railway station as being a similar structure, only bigger.