THE NEW PAVILION

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 6

THE NEW PAVILION

WHAT THE PLANS PROVIDE

SEATING CAPACITY 1200

A SUGGESTION FROM" THE MAYOR

A point which particularly strikes one en looking 6ver the tracings, blue prints, and drawings of plans and elevations of the new pavilion to be built at the Basin Reserve is that a tremendous amount of work must be done before the real work of building commences. The drawing of such plans in careful detail has meant months of work, lor the City Council's draughtsmen, of which work much has gone for very little, not that it" has been wasted, but that an improvement here and there in general planning or the disposition ofi one or other of >he facilities has meant a rearrangement of per-, haps most of that wing or floor, with a consequent redesigning and redrawing. Even now the plans are not absolutely finished, for an invitation has been extended by the Town Clerk to officers of sports bodies and others interested to inspect the plans and to niak e suggestions for their possible improvement to the council's chief architect, Mr. Aked. The< general- design and arrangements, however, are to b 6 as shown on the plans now drawn, be the minor points as they may. ... TWO-THIRDS OF A PAVILION. When, a considerable time ago, it was decided that the old pavilion had lived its life and served its day, that it was neither large enough, safe enough (it was reported upon, as being thoroughlyunsafe and dangerous when called upon to bear the weight of anything like a capacity crowd), nor handsome enough, for the Basin and Wellington, 'the council, decided that competitive designs should be called for "and offered a considerable inducement to architects to submit designs. The stand as ,theii proposed was to have a seating capacity of about 2000, and several designs were submitted. That good work was offered in those plans was never questioned, but the same old difficulty—Finance, with' a capital F. —stood, in the way. The council was willing to spend £15,000,- but the pavilion as drawn out by the architect whose ideas were adjudged the best would have cost very^much more than that amount. Later, the council decided that twothirds of a new pavilion would be better than none,'and so gave authority for the ■drawing of. plans for a building to cost £10,000, the balance of the money to be raised for the completion at a later date. That apparently is the position at the present time, and the question of how long the new pavilion will remain unfinished is a parellel question to one as to when the piping times of bounding finance will come again, unless, of course, the council decides to proceed at once with the complete building, cutting intenor_ fittings to bare necessities for the tiftie being. . THE SEATING DECK. The new concrete stand will' occupy a site a little further back than that of the pre-sent't(jld:'-:;w.p [ paMn..;build i ing " and" will seat 1200 with', elbow room,' and a number yet to be determined, jwhen the attraction is great enoagh to allow of onlookers being packed in solidly without complaint. Over all, the building will measure 120 feet from north to south and on the* seating/deck seventeen tiers of seats will be placed on asmanyeteps each. 2ft 9in.in width. The fall of the floor has been "determined with a view' of ensuring that spectators will see over the heads of .those on the tier below, while the red-tiled roof, on steel trusswork, and supported in front on four steel lattice columns, will be of such height and design that spectators on the highest tier will have a clear view of the full width of the playing area, with plenty still, to spare on the far side. The north and south ends of the pavilion will be glazed with wired plate glass (the wire being embedded in the glass itself, making accidents from falling glass prac-* tically impossible) with a certain amount of steel work to give strength. -.Along the greater part of the length of the" seating ■ deck will run an open space, ten feet wide, which will1 be reserved for the seating of distinguished visitors, members of teams, and so on, who may descend to the field by stairways at either end of the stand. Presumably, also, these stairways will be available to the public after a match is river, but in' the ordinary course of events the main public entrance will be from the Sussex street side, as at present. PLAYERS' QUARTERS AND TEA °. ROOMS. The site is not level, as all who know the Basin are aware, but slopes fairly steeply, from! the lever of Sussex street to the-present pathway and playing field. This, however? is no1 disadvantage in the planning of the stand. At the main public entrance from. Sussex street, the entrance doors will be midway along the length 1 of that elevation, with ticket boxes and offices on either side and. a hanging verandah to give protection to ticket-buyers. Inside . the main door there will be a tile-floored hall, from which short flights of stairs will run up, one to right and the' other to left, to the main distributing corridor, 4ft 6in wide, and running the full length of the building, from which the. seiting deck will be reached, the distributing aisles on the deck itself being 6ft in width and dividing the deck into three equal sections. A good deal of storage room will ba available' under the seating deck, and conveniences for both sexes will be provided in Sussex street floor level. From the entrance hall the ground floor is reached, and on this level will be the seven dressing-rooms, fitted with showers, basins, etc., with players' entrances at either end of the building, while a few steps down again will takß one (on the actual Basin level) to a large tea room, 55ft by 30ft, which may also, be used for meetings or dances, the kitchen, 24ft 9iu by 15ft, cloak-rooms, accommodation for officials, and; ambulance, a refreshment booth opening- to the grounds by large swing windows, and several smaller rooms. Public conveniences for both sexes will be provided on this level also. ■ The general design, as shown by the plans, is quite attractive, though the design does not appear to a layman to be one which may be conveniently, or even iriconvenienent,ly, divided into two-thirds and one-third, riarticularly as the onethird woidd probably not be built for a considerable time. WHERE THE TUNNEL COMES IN. Referring to the new pavilion this morning, the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.) said that he had some doubts whethere sp large a pavilion was actually required. Cricket was a fine weather game, and football was, after all, only an occasional game at the Basin Reserve. .He thought that a very great improvement to the whole Basin, from a; spectator's point of view, could be effected at little cost by using part'of the spoil from the new tunnel for the terracing of the ground on the western side. The spoil had to be taken someTChetfi, and-.the Bagin was certainly

handy enough. Probably at very little expense on transportation of sp?il, the formation of terraces, and th'e placing of seats for fine weather accommodation could be provided for 10,000 or 'so people on that western bank.