SEMINARY RESTORED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1931, Page 7

SEMINARY RESTORED

WORK AT GREENMEADOWS

The damage done by tho earthquake of 3rd February, 1931, in Hawkes Bay, necessitated in many cases complete rebuilding, but in some cases, skilled cm* gineers have been able to recondition damaged structures at a considerabl* saving of time and expense This has been the case with the buildings used by St. Mary'a Seminary at Greentueadovrs. As a result of the jfirst earthquake the building, which had not long been constructed, settled down nearly two feet at the eastern end, and. this was accentuated when a later shako caused a subsidence of 2ft 6in, the building having then sunk to a total depth of 4ft 3in.

! Though the ground floor had been badly crushed, especially at the eastera end, the remainder of the building appeared to be quite undamaged. In fact, it is stated that in the second and third floors not a window was broken, nor a door jammed. No cracks were visible, nor had the piers and beams been damaged above the first story, for which reason it was decided to attempt to restore the building..

The seminary authorities consulted Mr. J. A. M'Aven, of Wellington, who considered that the building could be lifted and restored. He decided that the building could be lifted by means of hydraulic jacks, each with a capacity of five tons. JSightceu of these jacks were used, and as they could not be procured in New Zealand, it became necessary to send to England for them. A foundation was made for each jack with railway sleepers, piled up, as shown in one of the illustrations oa this page. The spread allowed a carrying capacity of about one ton to each square foot. By placing the lift on the underside of the concrete beams th« conditions were entirely' different from those that obtained when the buildingwas being built in. the first case, and the problem of a steady lift bocame injcreasingly difficult. When the jacks had been placed in position—and this took considerable time—nine men were kept fully occupied for a full week of working days in lifting the top stories to the Iwight necessary to all construction work to be carried out on ths ground floor. So successful was the whole uudertaking that new piers were built (as shown in one of the pictures on this page), and eventually the top building was released and set on its new foundations, and the job was completed.