BUILDING ACTIVITY IN WELLNGTON

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 250, 19 July 1937, Page 8

BUILDING ACTIVITY IN WELLNGTON

Renaissance, Taking Place MORE BIG WORKS AHEAD Emergence from the depression has been marked in Wellington by a period of extraordinary activity in building, one so remarkable not only in the aggregate ex!—4. of the operations but also in tho ambitious nature of tho structures that is something of a renaissance period.

Though the building trade was the first to be seriously affected by the depression of 1930-35, it was the first to make a notable recovery when the tide turned. Such has been the building activity almost universally that it would seem that building is the one pivotal activity employing all manner of tradesmen, which cannot remain static. That fact makes building figures a more or less reliable thermometer as to general conditions in a country or a city. When was initiated the building of such structures as the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum, the new railway station, the new Government Life Insurance block, the departmental block now raising its head in Stout Street, and the new Central Fire Station, there were those with fears of another dull period when these buildings were completed, but such fears do not appear to be the least justified by the outlook in the constructional field to-day. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that activity, as far as institutional buildings are concerned, is likely to be marked during the next two or three years. No,t only is the writing on the wall in respect to several big jobs ahead, but also there are in prospect others which might take more tangible intent during .the itaxt few months. Buildings to be Erected. (if the larger undertakings to be initiated this year there are the Wellington City Central Library, a £70,000 building, which will probably take two years to erect and equip; the now Government dental clinic block, to be erected on the site of the old Te Aro school in upper Willis Street; the project of the Mutual Life and Citizens’ Assurance Company, which is to erect an eight-story building on the site of the old Central Hotel, on Lambton Quay; the new four-story block for the Post and Telegraph Department, to be erected In Herd Street, near the Clyde Quay Wharf; and a £609,000 hospital. It is anticipated that tenders will bo called for all these buildings this or next year, and that, barring accidents, they wilj be well under way by this time next year.

Rather more nebulous, but none the less possible, are other important buildings more or less definitely mooted during recent months. One of these is’ the National Conservatorium of Music and the Arts, the advent of which was announced by Professor James Shelley on the occasion of the opening of the new radio station at Titahi Bay. Since then, however, little of an official nature has been mentioned in regard to the conservatorium. Much more definite are the Centennial Exhibition buildings, which are to cover some 40 acres of land at Lyall Bay. Tenders for this work will probably be called early next year, as it has already been announced that the exhibition is to be opened in November, 1939. That work should provide employment for many artisans over a considerable period of time. The City Council. ■ > Two buildings which have been referred to from time to time, but which have not been scheduled for Immediate erection, are the new departmental block for the Wellington City Council, recommended by the last Civic Commission, and the extension of Parliament Buildings over the old wooden section that was formerly Government House, yet both are possibilities. As far as the city council is concerned, the matter is becoming one of some little urgency. In tho 1932 commission’s report appears the following paragraph: “The building now used by the city engineer’s staff was an old warehouse type of building, divided into three sections by party walls. It is wholly unsuitable for requirements, and it is impossible to group the officers in a satisfactory manner. This causes inconvenience both to the staff and the public, and renders proper supervision difficult. There are no less than three plan rooms, with a separate officer in charge of each. In a suitable building one plan room should suffice, with one attendant in charge. . . It is desirable that an administrative building be erected for the whole of the Town Hall staffs When funds are available. This would lead to better and more effective work and result in a great saving of time.” It is this departmental building, suggested to be erected at the rear of the Town Hall, that will probably be the next city council building enterprise. The way is practically clear, for the city council had acquired the education board’s property, which gives the corporation a magnificent block of land in the very heart of the city, a block that ’will be enhanced by the demolition two years hence of the existing free public library. It would certainly be an achievement if such a plan could be consummated by centenary year. From time to time mention is made of the necessity of completing Parliament Buildings. Only a portion of the original scheme was carried out by the contract of Messrs. Hansford and Mills—up to where the marble ends and the wood begins. Tho old wooden building, which has done valiant service for some 60-odd years, is still . habitable, but It has outlived its generation and is now a rather incongruous adjunct to the new Parliament Building it adjoins. The prosecution of this scheme is a matter of Government policy; so. too, is the proposed demolition; of the Government Printing Office, and the erection of a new one on another site.