Start to finish in 60 weeks

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32565, 26 March 1971, Page 7

Start to finish in 60 weeks

The top photograph was taken in February last year and shows the site being cleared for the new distribution centre. The picture below was taken earlier this month and shows the magnificent building which covers three acres of the 13 j acre site. Juventin and Partners, of Auckland, are the architects who designed the building, and Paynter and Hamilton, of Christchurch, the building contractors. The food distribution centre has a total of 129,200 sq. ft of floor space, 112,200 on the ground floor and 17,000 on the second floor in the block of offices. Fifty 50ft piles were driven for the foundations of the office block.

A total of 300 tons of structural steel was used in the project, 220 precast concrete slabs for the first floor of the office block, 12,000 yards of electrical wiring, 21,000 bricks, and 14,000 concrete blocks, with 14,000 sq. ft of glass in the exterior walls. The ground floor of the new centre has a stud of 20ft with roof rising to 35ft in the middle allowing for the stacking of goods by fork-lift trucks. The goods storing section occupies 95,000 sq. ft, and has two temporary wall sections allowing for easy expansion to the north and west. The lantern roof, of aluminium sheeting allows plenty of windows for natural light.