MR LUNEY WAS VERY KEEN FOR THE JOB

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 30

MR LUNEY WAS VERY KEEN FOR THE JOB

No man is more happy about the advent of the Christchurch Town Hall than the man who built it, Mr Charles S. Luney. It was a contract that Mr Luney was particularly keen to win.

"I wanted the job,” he said. “This was a strong personal wish. I was brought up in this area, went to school near here, and started my business near the Town Hall site in 1928.

“So I had a great personal interest in this job; also, the construction was a real challenge.” Mr Luney said that building the Town Hall was technically the most difficult job he had had, or was likely to have.

“Because of the nature of the work,” he said. “Because of the design.”

And this, Mr Luney added, was a compliment to the architect.

There was no repetition in the Town Hall construction. It was not* like the building of a multi-storey office or accommodation where, once the first couple of floors were up, the job more or less repeated itself to the end.

“The Town Hall imposed a lot of continuous setting out,” said Mr Luney. “It taxed to the full the abilities of our drawing office and technical staff on the preparation of shop drawings.

“You could say that the Town Hall was a hand-

made building from start to finish, and a big one.

“We were able to do the work because of the experience of our staff,” he said. “I wouldn’t like to have tackled it without our staff. In particular, I would like to say that my brother, W. A. Luney, who was the project manager, did an outstanding job.

“There is a wonderful accord between my brother and myself on the job; nine times out of 10 the decision he makes to deal with an urgent problem is just the decision I would have made myself.” Luneys has a staff of between 200 and 300 and deals with most aspects of construction itself. Thus the firm has its own draughting office, its own steel shop and its own joinery works. “Sub-letting of tenders is

kept to a minimum,” said Mr Luney. “The main ones we sub-let are electrical and mechanical services." Mr Luney said that the Town Hall had been a very happy job. “We went through without any discord or disharmony. We never had a cross word with the architects or an argument with the consultants. “It was a wonderful spirit. The staff became very interested in the job, too.”

Speaking of the architects, Messrs Warren and Mahoney, Mr Luney said: “The fact that they won the design competition for the building speaks for itself. Our association with them has revealed that administratively they were most businesslike and practical. “We would look forward to doing other jobs for them.” Looking down into the auditorium. The picture below shows Mr C. S. Luney and his brother, Mr W. A. Luney, the project manager, after arriving on the bare site on November 14, 1968.