A HUGE BUILDING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 21, 25 July 1939, Page 11

A HUGE BUILDING

1 NEW PRINTING OFFICE

FOUNDATIONS STARTED

A commencement has been made by the Public Works Department with the foundations for the new Government Printing Office, which v/ill occupy the whole of the space between the Hotel. Waterloo and Whitmore Street, eight storeys in height, and so will be one of the largest buildings in New Zealand. The ' frontage to Waterloo Quay will be 348 feet, and the depth at the northern end 155' feet, with a. rather lesser depth on the Whitmore Street frontage on account of the irregular land boundaries. The Printing Office will stand upon reclaimed ground, and the Government Architect, Mr. John Mair, has specified a great raft foundation and a particular method of working by surrounding the site* with deeply driven steel sheet piling to check the inflow of water from the harbour, for the site is not far from the waterfront. Preliminary work for the construction of the foundations will mean the excavation of the whole site to a depth of 17 feet. Piles will go down as far again, and the reinforced concrete raft will rest on the pile support and the floor of the excavation.

The building will be of reinforced concrete, and particular attention has been given to the obtaining of maximum natural lighting. Air conditioning will be an important feature of the building to ensure not merely the best possible working conditions for the staff, but the particular conditions of humidity or drier air required for certain of the processes in a printingoffice.