GOVERNMENT LIFE BLOCK

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 197, 18 May 1936, Page 6

GOVERNMENT LIFE BLOCK

Progress in Building SOUND FOUNDATION The progress being wade with ihe row Governmetn Life Insurance Department’s block in Customhouse Quay, Wellington, is now clear to all eyes. On the northern side of the section there are still four caissons in position ready to be sunk, buti as the centrifugal pumps are needed elsewhere they are being allowed to rest vertically in their positions until such time as the work of completing the basement is finished. When it is considered that there are DO of these great concrete caissons, it means just as sound a foundation for the building as though it were on solid rock. The one sizeable break is the near centre point, where, a basement 72 feet by 31 feet is being sunk 14 feet below the level of the exterior footpath. This basement is to accommodate the boilers and furnaces for ihe heating of the building. Eight stories over such a huge square of land accommodates a lot of offices, and each one has to be furnished with a radiator, so that the warming of such a pile becomes an operation of some magnitude. At present the excavation for the basement is away below the old beach formation. It is surprising that the beach, consisting here of shell and gravel, is situated only some eight feeii below the level of the street, so that it is assumed that the shore waters of Lamb;ion Haffbour were never very deep. Through this deposit the sea-water seeps freely into the basement opening, but at no great pressure. That is to say, three centrifugal pumps are sufficient to keep the water down and allow work to proceed on the floor level. This basement has to be made waterproof, and the contractor thinks that can be done by thickness of concrete without, the use of any extra proofing material. The steel —it is a steel-framed building—is being fabricated by W. Cable and Co. It is a riveted job, as the occupants of offices in that vicinity are well aware. One advantage of the welding process, as applied to steelframed buildings, is that it is silent, and, for that reason, that means of joining up the great standards and girders is being largely used in New York and other American cities, rfo far there has only been one welded steel building of any note in Wellington.

So far the steel superstructure in position is restricted to the southern half of the block. Ou the Panama Street frontage the steel is erected up to the third floor. The work will proceed more rapidly as soon as the basement is completed and the ground floor ils down.