BUILDING FITTINGS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 167, 11 April 1935, Page 17

BUILDING FITTINGS

Briscoe, E. W. Mills & Co. How a uniform tint of coloured concrete can be used in. adding to the beauty of design of a modern, building is demonstrated by the Prudential Assurance Company s ’s new building, the concrete for which was supplied by Briscoe, E. W. Mills and. Co. Ltd. While coloured concrete is not new, it is only within the last two or three years that it has found such popularity, and there is no doubt that this is due to a very large degree to the fact that the cement for the various finishes can be purchased in a complete form. When it was necessary to buy cement and pigment separately, and mix them on the site, it was extremely difficult to obtain uniformity of colour of the finished work. ‘‘Snowcrete,” A.P.C.M. coloured cements and "Colorcrete” have provided the builder with materials almost as complete in themselves as are paint and putty. Prismatic lenses are employed to give an even diffusion of light in the Max-Way Prismatic Pavement Lights, which have been used extensively in the new Prudential Assurance Company’s building for lighting the basement. The lights are manufactured by Briscoe, E. W. Mills and Company Limited in Wellington, and they arc used mainly for cellar and roof lights. The old-fashioned skylight has been eliminated, and its place lias been taken by Max-Way Lights. Fire-proof Shutters. Made in Wellington from the best procurable material and of British manufacture, McArthur steel rolling shutters are installed in the new Prudential Assurance Company’s building. Fully 95 per cent, of modern commercial buildings are erected in ferroconcrete or brickwork, and as such should be regarded as fire-proof. Architects and owners are rapidly realising, however, that while the main structure is fireproof the building as a whole is vulnerable to fire through doors and windows unless these are of steel.