Car-park conversion to offices sought

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 4

Car-park conversion to offices sought

Amuri Motors, Ltd, wanted; to convert the upper floors! of its Durham Street car-1 park building to oflices be-j cause the financial return i from the building had been! totally inadequate since it was erected 12 years ago, the! manager of the company (Mr, D. A. H. Brown) told a' Christchurch City Council) town-planning hearing yest”r-j day. The firm has applied for' conditional use of parts of! the building. “In order to convert the car-park building to a viable; one it is our wish to erect; a structure to enclose the top; decks of the building by add-! ing a storey to the western) half and roofing the eastern; half,” said Mr Brown. “Thisi will not only provide! superior office accommoda-l tion but will enhance the ap-| pearance of our existing; building.” I

Mr A. Reay, an engineer and structural consultant, said that his firm had prepared the new development proposals for Amuri Motors. They involved the provision of office accommodation in a roof-garden setting on the top level of the building. “The purpose of this lowrise courtyard-type office development is to provide what we believe is a desirable; alternative to the type ofj office space provided in typical multi-storey tower: office blocks,” he said. Parking for tenants and! other persons using the! offices could be located on I the parking floor being re-1 tained. Commercial parking' spaces on the remaining floors would also be retained. Mr J. G. Dryden, a senior town planner in the council’s town-planning division, said in support of the application) that the proposals would re-1

duce the car-parking in the building from 308 spaces to! 200 spaces. “While it could be considered that the design and appearance of the present parking building has little regard for the character of the historic Provincial Council Chambers opposite, in my view the proposed additions could well enhance the present situation by finishing off iWhat is a very utilitarian structure with an unattractive roofline.” he said. Outlining the proposals, Mr G. F. Willis, an architect, said that sloping roof forms and balconies would help to reduce the over-all scale of ■the building while pre-cast concrete fins running from the veranda up the face of the Durham Street and Armagh Street elevation would relieve the mass of j the present structure and i would screen the parking i decks from the roadway.