New Bank Of N.Z. In Square City’s Tallest Building

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30218, 24 August 1963, Page 10

New Bank Of N.Z. In Square City’s Tallest Building

Christchurch’s tallest building, the new 11-storeyed Bank of New Zealand, of 141 ft, has been approved by the City Council after the town planning committee met bank officials yesterday and completed details of planning.

The bank, which will be built on the present Colombo street - Cathedral square - Hereford street site, will incorporate the new building on the Square side, be set back 7ft from the Colombo street frontage and have a shopping arcade linking the Square with Hereford street.

The building, the most modem bank premists in Australia or New Zealand, has been designed by Stephenson and Turner, Sydney architects, and a contract is being negotiated with _P. Graham and Son, Ltd., which has been building the extensions to the bank.

Apart from satisfying the bank’s needs, the building has been designed with the Cathedral, the environment created by it and the Square in mind; and the designers have also incorporated the four - storeyed concrete structure already erected as the first stage of the original rebuilding proposals. “In designing the bank it has been acknowledged that in spite of its relatively large size, which cannot be minimised. at least efforts would have to be made to reduce it in apparent scale,” said the bank yesterday. “It must also be designed in such a way as to fall within the quiet colours and tonal qualities of the Square. “A decision was reached to mass the building in such a way that the whole of the site is covered only up to third-floor level. In this way the existing concrete structure can be encompassed. The remaining part of the building reduces to a tower section.” Slate Cladding

The building will be subdued in tone and colour by cladding it with a lightlypolished dark grey-green

slate from the Broughton Moor quarries in England. It has not been used in New Zealand before. There will be II occupiable floors above ground and a basement which will cover all the site not occupied by the existing concrete structural frame. In the basement there will be vaults, a security unloading area for bank vehicles, car and bicycle parking facilities and the heavy plant needed to run the air-conditioning and electrical services. Shopping Arcade The arcade linking Hereford street and the square will be at ground-level. It will give access to escalators leading to the main banking chamber, which will occupy the whole of the first floor, and to tihe main lift lobby and stairs. The ground floor will accommodate some bank areas which deal directly with the public and a number of shops or agencies. The main banking chamber on the first floor will be entirely open from side to side, with the area divided only by counters for tellers and the various public departments. Extensive views of the square and surroundings Will be seen from the banking chiamber. The second floor will accommodate the executive offices of the bank and various working departments. The third floor and the fifth to tenth floors will be avail-

able. for letting. The intermediate fourth floor will accommodate the air-condition-ing plant and a caretaker’s flat. All the office areas in the building will be fully airconditioned with a dual duct high-velocity system. All office partitions will be fully demountable to provide easy replanning for tenants, or in the event of Changes of tenancies. Fluorescent lighting will be recessed into acoustic ceilings and will provide a very high, uniform level of illuim: nation. Three high-speed elec-tromcaily-controlied lifts, in addiition to the escalator leading to the first floor, will service the building. Pre-Fabrication The methods of construction of the building have been designed to reduce erection time to a minimum by taking full advantage of prefabricated methods and materials. These will enable the maximum off-site labour to be employed. The basic structure will consist of a steel frame

which will be largely bolted together. The floors will be formed of pre-cast slabs resting on the steel structure and bound together with a concrete screed which will conceal ducts tor electric wiring, telephones and intercommunication services. The exterior walls will be constructed of pre-cast panels approximately 12ft high by sft wide, faced with the Broughton Moor slate. The panels may be complete with fully-glazed windows when erected.

Before submitting the plans of the new building to the city council, the bank showed them to the Cathedral Chapter and obtained its approval that the design fitted in with the square and the cathedral.