COST OF FOUNDATIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 13

COST OF FOUNDATIONS

WEIGHT TO BE CARRIED SOME STRIKING FIGURES Foundations for the new wing of the State Savings Bank, which is being built at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, Melbourne, will bear within a few months. a load of some 9000 tons, or slightly less than the weight of the motor-ship Wanganella. Modern steel structures impose an enormous strain on their foundations, and it is significant, says the Argus, that about 15 per cent of the total cost of city buildings goes underground. Both the new wing of the State Savings Bank and the new building for the Bank of New South Wales, in Collins Street, are in the hands, of the engineer. The foundations in Collins Street, now creeping up to ground level, will carry a building weighing about 6000 tons. Excavations went down 50ft., and 14,000 cubic yards of soil were carted from the site. The huge mechanical shovel now ploughing beiow the surface at Bourke Street will stop at 30ft., by which time more than 7000 cubic yards of material will have been removed.

Distribution of weight, which is being carefully watched in these two buildings, is always a consideration uf importance. Otherwise a corner of a building may sink like the heel of a shoo in the sand. Two huge girders in the building in Collins Street will each sustain tons.' This will be the heaviest load borne by any girders in Australia. The importance of tho engineering side of building construction is often overlooked by the layman. The architect conceives style and form. His is the creative work, but the engineer's task is to see that design is given shape consistent with safety.