S.A.C. block rising

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32705, 7 September 1971, Page 1

S.A.C. block rising

The first pour of concrete—--80 cubic yards pumped from conveyor trucks in the Square to the lower basement floor 25ft below road level—has been made in the new State Advances Corporation building. After six months of excavation and pile-driving, the pouring of the foundation slab is the first upward move. The piles for the inner buttress core of the building have been driven. Reinforcing rods for the services core—containing three lifts and stairs —have been put in. The first portion of the tower crane has been constructed. The crane will be a tower within a tower and should rise to 100 ft before the end of . the month, going up

wlthin the service core and eventually being removed from within the completed building through the roof structure. The crane will be on four jacks so that it can be raised or lowered as required. The jib will have to clear the buildings on the south and east sides. The contract calls for the $3 million, 18,000-ton building to be completed within three years and a half of starting. The driving of the 500 piles, 15ft and 20ft long at the bottom of the 25ft deep excavation is the slowest job. The piling is being done from the centre of the U2ft by 32ft site outwards to the steel sheathing round the perimeter, and it will be

a few months yet before it is all finished. The foundation of the buttress core will be completed first, and the buttresses and central interior' walls built up to second basement level

before the outer excavation is completed. The lower basement will be used for storage, and the upper basement for parking vehicles, with

access by a concrete ramp from the east side. The Christchurch Transport Board’s new building is going up steadily on the eastern side of the site. A road will go under the first floor (with the ground floor on either side) from Cathedral Square southwards, past the State Advances ramp, to the lane to Hereford Street