DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22005, 11 January 1935, Page 13

DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES

PROBLEM IN WELLINGTON CONSIDERATION OF SCHEME MORE ACCOMMODATION NEEDED Ministers of the Crown and departmental experts are giving constructive thought to the need of more adequate office accommodation for State departments in Wellington. Under the strain of economy in recent years, says the Dominion, the question has become a problem which, in some features, is causing anxiety. \\ ith a view to solving it, a building scheme embodying the best principles of planning both for future service and amenities is receiving Ministerial consideration.

The main Government building—with tho oft-proclaimed distinction of being the largest wooden structure in the world—is said to be almost grotesquely overcrowded. Conditions there, however, though admittedly unsatisfactory, are tolerable, compared with those in the adjoining odd buildings, "rushed up" in war time, and known colloquially as the "tomato house."

Officials agree that the unsightly buildings are. anything but conducive to the health and best working efficiency of State servants. A grant of some £'soo was made in the current financial year for the purpose <of alleviating conditions in the main buildings, but so far the money has not been spent, it being recognised that, it would be more economical in the long run to remove the "tomato house" and provide for a modern type of structure in keeping with the architectuie of the new railway station. It is thought that circumstances may not be so favourable for years as they are now for building a departmental block that not only would eliminate congestion in existing office's, but would meet all expansion of service for the next decade at the least. The State is paying about £14,000 a year in rent for offices in Wellington, with the result that departments are distributed almost as widely as white butterflies. It is pointed out that a great deal of that expenditure could be devoted with advantage to the payment of principal and interest charges on a new up-to-date block which would accommodate many departmental under one roof.

The remedial plan most favoured in administrative circles is to take early advantage of cheap money and abundance of labour and erect a block of offices on the site of the temporary buildings fronting Stout Street. Such a structure would harmonise with the remarkable improvement that will he wrought in the locality on completion of the metropolitan station and administrative offices for the Railways Department. If constructed on the linen suggested by State administrators and experts, the structure would serve ns the north-eastern facade of a great departmental block that, in the future, must replace the present main Government building which, it is estimated, will be of service for at least 20 years more. This building is nearly 30 vears old.

I j probably will be a month or two before the tentative plans take the form of a progressive policy, but the ground and its possibilities for improvement have been inspected by administrators, while practical officials have been calculating the cost involved.