Bank building may get additional floor

Press, 7 August 1982, Page 22

Bank building may get additional floor

lEe 12-storey Canterbury Savings Bank headquarters being built in High Street could have an additional floor with no significant increase in earthquake risk, the Christchurch City Council’s town-planning committee has. been told. The council's buildings engineer. Mr B. C. Bluck. said that the city centre office tower would still be more substantially designed and constructed than buildings erected during the 19605. The building's designers had been asked to consider the feasibility of adding another floor before the building was completed. Mr Bluck said that the new design would have the

effect of increasing the total seismic load on the foundation system between 1 per cent and 7 per cent. “The difference between the predicted loads on the designed building and the amended building are so small as to be too small in practical terms .in a real earthquake.” he said. “The art of seismic engineering has a long way to go before differences of loading of less than 10 per cent can be considered to be significant differences." Installation of recording devices to show how the building reacted in an earthquake may be sought by the council.