Friendly Society Adds To The City’s Skyline

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 13

Friendly Society Adds To The City’s Skyline

The opening of a new nine-storey building in the heart of Christchurch this week focused attention on the role of friendly societies in the community, the massive building programme in the inner city area and the redesign of the city’s skyline.

The new building at the comer of Manchester and Worcester streets was appropriately sited in view of the association of its owners to the city of Manchester.

The Manchester Unity Friendly Society put up the building and let most of the floor space to business tenants purely as an investment venture on behalf of its members.

The funds of the society invested in property in New Zealand now exceed £2,000,000 and its new premises are the most modern and sophisticated of all it owns in New Zealand. The erection of the building was a matter of considerable public interest as it was the first time that the lift slab method of placing the upper floors had been used in Christchurch.

The completion of the building was another step in the redevelopment of the inner city area with towering multi-storey buildings several times higher than the ones they are replacing.

Less than 25 years ago the thought that Christchurch would ever see miniature skyscrapers seemed as remote as could be. But having dispelled the old earthquake bogey, architects have been given greater latitude in planning altitudewise.

Mr P. J. Beaven, who designed the new building, went to some pains to fit it into the existing surrounding architecture.

He noted the quaint design of the Congregational Church apposite, the towering slate roof of the Cathedral nearby and the solidity of “The Press” building up on the next comer.

Mr Beaven pointed out at the official opening last Monday that his client had been “very generous indeed” in letting him take so much into consideration when planning the building. Before the building a was ever started, he said, engineers had gone down to New Brighton and driven test piles into the sand to

determine in advance what effect the driving method would have on the church opposite.

What they feared was that the church might not stand up under the weight of battering and vibration caused by pile driving nearby. By the use of the lift slab technique-—pouring the floors at ground level then hoisting them into position—the builders had cut the total construction time by about 15 months.

The eight floors had been lifted into position in 14 days by an Australian team brought over specially to do the job. “They had 20 days to do it but they did it in 14 because they wanted to get home for a Christmas party,” Mr Beaven said.

The building was something new in the city and a departure from the "standardised architecture of Christchurch.”

“There are far too many standardised buildings in New Zealand for an unstandardised people,” he said.