BANK BUILDING

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 287, 31 August 1935, Page 10

BANK BUILDING

Excavating on Commercial Site Excavations have been made already in various places on the site of the new Commercial Bank of Australia on Lambton Quay, and so far nd water has been encountered. At present the site is a series of holes and trenches, with men throwing up the earth from the bottom on to different platforms, and so into trucks. Later the divisions between the present excavations will be removed, until the level of the whole of the area is 18 feet below the level of the street. The ground has been found to be so firm that the only water trouble likely to occur would be from surface water, and there the contractors have been fortunate in experiencing a record dry August. As the Harbour Board can accept no further spoil for the Thorndon reclamation (which has served Wellingtonfor the past 20 years) the spoil from the bank job is being tipped into the hole between the new railway ramp and the Hutt Road, between Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga. Preparations are now being made for the erection of the north-western wall of the bank. The Old IS-ineh brick wall which divided the bank property from that of the South British Insurance Company has been entirely demolished. In order to protect the insurance company’s property during building operations a temporary wall of timber (in sections), protected on the outside with waterproofed material has been built. In due course, the bank, building up from the basement —a twostory depth below the footpath level—will erect its reinforced concrete wall upon its own boundary. The rumour that the South British Insurance Company intends to demolish its present offices and build a new block on the site was not substantiated by the local manager, Mr. S. £5. Dean. .