INFIRMARY BLOCK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23591, 27 February 1940, Page 6

INFIRMARY BLOCK

APPROVAL OF PLANS £200,000 INVOLVED FIVE-STOREY BUILDING ~T PROVISION FOR 165 BEDS "Details of the five-storey building' to![ be erected at the Auckland Infirmary!) were announced at n meeting of t.i« >i 1 Auckland Hospital Board last night, when sketch plans of the structure were received. Notice was given of ',V the board's intention to raise a loan of £200.000 to cover the cost of erecting the block and providing other services. The special committee set up to report on the project advised that sketch plans submitted by the board's architect, Mr. R. Farrell, had been approved by Dr. R. A. Shore, director of hospitals for the Health Department. He had also approved the location of the building between the female wards and the Costley block. The committee, had approved the plans for the new structure, which would be of five storeys and would accommodate 165 patients. • It would be constructed so that another storey could be added if required in the future. Increased Levy Unlikely Increased accommodation would be required for the infirmary services as a result of the extra 165 beds, and the nurses' home would have to be extended to accommodate nursing aids at f present living out, and extra ones required for the new building. Authority should be obtained to raise a loan of £200,000 to cover the cost of the new building and equipment, extensions to the nurses' home, kitchens, boiler house, laundry and store. The chairman, Mr. Allan J, Moody, said lie wanted to assure the public that the slow-moving machinery had at' last started. Jie did not want the con-!. tributing local authorities to be * alarmed over -the expenditure. Without binding the board lie thought He could say that there would be ho increase in the levy. Definite-instrnc-tions had been given that the board must budget on this basis. Every effort, had been made to reduce expenditure, Step in Larger Scheme The new building would take the overflow from the hospital. It could ancl possibly would be used to take soldierii when tliey return from the war. ' The expenditure was included in the £1,500.000 "plan talked about some time ago. This was the first step in the building scheme and the board won|d not be stopped now. The main building project had not been shelved, but i)| could not be rushed. * - " >1

It was decided to give the statutory notices of intention at the board':? meeting on April 8 to consider a motion to apply to'the Local Government Loans Board for sanction to borrow £200.000. The new building will incorporate tin? latest improvements- and will be of modern design. It will front on Green Lane. Of reinforced concrete, it will b; fire-resisting throughout and wilT have hardwood floors on concrete. The fivo storevs will be served by two lifts.

Each Floor |||j.f-Contained Each floor will be a self-contained unit of 33 beds, complete with service rooms, nurses' rooms; a patients' day room, an inquiry bureau, ward kitchens and linen rooms. Wards of one. two, five and six beds, will be provided on each floor. The building has been planned so that it can be duplicated with a similar structure when this becomes necessary. . ;;a •

Advice was received from the Health * Department that the Public Works Department considered that a proposal to erect an additional storey in lighl; materials on top of the female wards would unduly the risk if a. major earthquake occurred. Consequently it could not concur in the proposal. ■