P.G.G. head office expands

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 26

P.G.G. head office expands

Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Limited, the largest indeScepndent stack and station agents in the South Island, have expanded their head office in Christchurch for a fourth time. The new six storey building, which is called Insignis House, amalgamates the existing two Pyne, Gould, Guinness buildings — all interlinking — on Cashel Street. Departments in the new building will consist of Pyne, Gould, Guinness Travel and the estate agents Binns Barber and Keenan on the ground floor, Finance and Discounts Limited on the third floor and the Export department and the company’s board room on the fourth floor. Apart from a new restaurant called Soup Plus on the ground floor the remaining three floors at Insignis House will all be

leased as office accommodation. Insignis House is owned by the staff pension fund of Pyne, Gould, Guinness. According to Warren and Mahoney the Architects. the office block stands on a long relatively narrow site running between Cashel Street and Bedford Row. Each office floor is nearly square, well lit for full width north and south windows. Lifts, stairs and' toilets are grouped together to make a stiff structural box which in combination with the side walls resists all earthquake forces. The two facades to the streets are constructed in floor height 3.000 wide load bearing precast concrete units. They stand in front of the windows providing sun protection, and access platforms at each floor for window cleaning and maintenance of the building. The deep shadows formed by the units make a vigorously

modelled facade. Bronze tinted glass and black aluminium window frames make the glass line appear to' recede further on the lower floors. The top floor of the Cashel Street frontage capping the building is the direct opposite with projecting bay windows within the precast concrete units with mirror glass and white aluminium frames. The Cashel Street verandah has a pitched roof covered with asbestos shingles and constructed in five units with glass between to relate to the precast concrete. The lower columns at the street line and the first floor spandrel beams are tiled. The building cost approximately $600,000 and was completed with internal subdivision in fifteen months. The contractors were Williams Development Holdings, Ltd. The existing head office complex has also been renovated and refurbished

in keeping with the ndr building. The first corner buildirif at 178 Cashel Street was erected in 1922. Owing to the continual development and expansion of more services, a second twj storey building wfi erected in 1954. Two storeys were added in 1972. j Pyne, Gould, Guinne# first began as an amalgat mation of three compand in 1919. The company is now A largest independent stodj and station agency in th* South Island wirt branches in CanterbutjJ Marlborough and North Otago. 7 The areas of busineji now include finance; st oak and station agency; graft, seed and produce; wotjk broking; stud stock and blood stock sales; trustees and executors; insurant# real estate; travel; and contract growing of NetJ Zealand and overseas vai> eties of grasses; and crops.