A START MADE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 55, 2 September 1944, Page 8

A START MADE

CIVIC CENTRE PLAN?

BUILDINGS VACANT

Since the City Council made its decision to go ahead with the modified civic centre scheme, progress has been made in the discussion of detail, and the next stage will be the preparation, of working drawings and the formulation of- the terms of the triple contract, for the removal of the old buildings on the Town Hall triangle, the erection of the newbuilding, and the later demolition of the City Engineer's building. For some years past the City Council has set aside sums of money for additions to the Town Hall, and finance for the modified scheme will be no very serious obstacle. By the time the preliminaries are completed and a contract can be accepted both material and labour positions will probably be favourable enough for' a commencement to be made. Materials for home building are still difficult, and are likely to remain so for some time, a "Post" reporter was told, but there are good stocks of steel in the country and men are becoming available for that class of work. The proposal that' the old public library should be remodelled for temporary use for Government offices ,has been abandoned and the District Office of Health, chief tenants in the proposed remodelled building, have found: accommodation in the Hotel Cecil building. • The council, in any case, was never enthusiastic about "temporary" remodelling; there are other temporary buildings which still stand from the last war, and the plan- has been buried without a tear. The former Education Board building'and the. old Technical School building ,are also vacant, except that their ground floors are used for storage, so that the way is clear for a straight ahead start That is as well, for neither is safe against even a minor earthquake. The Wakefield Street wall of the ,gld Technical School (Smith Family) building is a danger to pedestrians and vehicles standing at the kerb. The dismantling of the upper strained walls of the City Engineer's building has emphasised the risks run there since the 1942 earthquakes. The oldstyle lime'mortar has so perished that it has scarcely any binding strength. The probability is that the lower walling is not much better, and though the worst parts are being taken out and the building will be given some sort of strength by cross ties of steel anchored through the outer walls, it will still be a poor sort of city building. There is unanimity that the sooner it is down the better. The old fire brigade station, now used as the city traffic, reserves, and city health offices, is also on the list for early removal, for when it was pulled together and given a roof-line reinforcing the understanding was that its use was to be just "temporary," though /he term was not defined. •