BUILDING A POST OFFICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14109, 10 July 1909, Page 6

BUILDING A POST OFFICE.

FEATURES OF THE WORt* ' i '-■:■ '.-•' ,'(-' .. 'v. '■:■;■;'• ' - , **« ["' HOW IT IS STARTED. The site of the new Auckland Post Offi at the entrance to the railway station -J? "', in the course of two or three weeks prps.* f i \ a busy scene, and for the next two w"' j and a-half it will be one of those interest I ing hives of industry incidental to th« c£'' l "' struction of all large buildings- With, tkl exception of a boring plant, which has J*.'* at work during the past week or two, the»» is at present little outward or visible " ! of the- commencement of operations, ] . a contract of this nature—involving the .V penditure of nearly £100,000 —there is,' W,] ever, much preparatory work to be done be! fore even a pile can be driven or a ston* placed in position, and a walk round th» ground and a talk with Mr. (i. W. Jamk son, a member of the contracting firm, is at present in Auckland, shows how much has been done in getting these preliminaries underway. ~ ' Before starting on the actual construction'" work in a large contract of this nature, t^ r contractor has to organise his staff, engage ( ' experts in various skilled trades, arrange 0[ . machinery of both ordinary and_ special types, and order material— locally some from other parts of the Dominion' and some from across the seas. There are : all sorts of initial wheels to be set in motion ■ and a hundred and one details—neglect of:i--any one of which would make the organise m tion imperfectto receive attention from the controlling head. Of such is the work - that has been actively, though quietly, pro.i ; grossing during the past two or throe Veekj,

SOME OF THE MATERIAL. - ' In a few days scows will be conveying massive blocks of granite from the Corornaa!'l! del quarries for the first storey wall, and shingle from the islands in the gulf for the manufacture of the immense quantities of concrete that are ,to be used in the work. Largo orders are being placed for cement'••' from both of the Auckland manufactories, whilst the local brick kilns will also- prepare J1 the many thousands of bricks that arc to form part of the walls of tho big building. 1 Many hundreds of tons of steel will be required in various parts of the structure-,' Part of this is already on the ground, and I further shipments arc en the way. • ThY ; timber platform, on which the ferra-con- ■ crete piles for the foundations will be cast, lias already been laid down just inside the old entrance gates. Before the immense superstructure can begin to rise the foundations, reaching down to rock bottom, must be put in, and this in itself is a work of some magnitude. The ■' building will rest upon 260 ferro-concrete j piles, each 16in square, and some of the ■-. will bo 50ffc long, the borings having reached this depth in some instances before finding the rock. These piles will require some 1300 tons of concrete and about 100 tons of steel. The mating of these piles will probably be started next week. Ferro-concrete wills!}' be employed for the floor of the ground floor • and for the roof. The building will thereby bo greatly strengthened, and rendered im- I :' l '' mime from the spread of fire- from either :; tho basement or the, roof. ' ■H'K'l:: A BIG EXCAVATION. As the pile-driving proceeds, the wort of' excavating to provide the space to be occupied by the basement'will also be. carried out. The ground plan of .the building' shows a measurement of 180 ft bv 140 ft, or, »'" superficial area of 25,200 ft. This will beexcavated to a depth of 6ft, thus entailing the removal of about 5600 cubic yards of earth. This will, of course, have to bo carted > away to the nearest ; --,j*k-|? clamation ground, and it will pro- ■„ vide work for a largo number of ; -, pick and shovel; men, as well as cartes,' whilst it is in progress. For, the purpose of lifting and setting the heavy blocks'of stow and other material to be used in the work, two steam cranes, each capable of handling ' weights up to i : . tons, will be erected on the site. Thev will stand on a gantries about,, high, and will be capable of working round three-fourths of a circle of 100 ft in diameter, Tho use of these cranes will obviate the ; necessity of hauling un material bv pullers or horse go*"*, and will greatly facilitate the handling of material which ' can be moved bv means of it to any distance, down to the 16 v h of an inch. -■:>'s,;,.■■'' -«>-.i|; For the breaking down of the 'hard granite'*, blocks powerful saws of a special character are required,' and these have been installed in a special yard at the eastern end of lie railway yard. These saws, which will 1. driven by an electric motor, consist of plainedged saws working on fine steel shot, on which water is kept trickling. , Ordinary saws would bo ouit©' useless for f\.v'\ work, as no teeth would bo equal to if. The great advantage of the steel shot is the ease with which it can bo replaced'. The sawn surface, after he-, ing finished off .by hand, will form the face of the stone in the wall of the building. The remainder of the work of fashioning these blocks, will be done by hand, whilst the cutting of the Onmaru stoop, _ which will comprise the upper portion " tho front wall, will be done with tho" usual teeth saws. '< -', - THE BUILDING ITSELF. The building, as stated in a previous description, will consist of four storeys and tho basements Entrance for vehicles and,' passengers will be provided through archways at both sides of the building, and; two towers, finished witjh domes and showing stone all round, will ascend from tho front, corners facina: Queen-street to i height of about 100 ft. Tho height of the front coping Avill be 70ft The side and back walls will be of brick, whilst *-. the floors (other than the ground floor)' and. the partitions will be of steel encased in brcozo concrete, which is specially adapted for fire-resisting purposes. The amount of, . the tender of Messrs. J. and W. Jamiefiß, Ltd., of Christchurcb, who have the contra': for the erection of the building, is up wards of £95.000, so that with extras tho structure will represent an outlav . of, roughly. £100,000. This money will bewidely distributed in payment for labpofg and material, and it is gratifying to learn that as much of both as is possible will be obtained locally. When the work is in' full swing it will yive employment to probably timvards of 100 men on the spot, not to speak, of many others who may be em-. , ployed in connection with tho buildingm - a rnoro or loss indirect manner.. Mr. & i ■ Hamilton will have charge of the work. -