NEW DRILL HALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16277, 9 January 1915, Page 3

NEW DRILL HALL

COMMODIOUS STRUCTURE AT KENSINGTON.

TO BE FINISHED IN AUGUST

For some years tho Garrison Hall lias been found unsuitable as a drill hall for Territorials. It is not very large, tor one thing, and the fact that it is greatly in demand as a place for the holding of entertainments has also had a good deal to do with its failure to supply the. needs ot the district adequately. Some four years ago the idea of building a new hall was mooted, but no definite steps wore taken until August last, when tenders were called for, tlio successful applicants being Messrs Armstrong and Moore, whose contract price was £14,000. The plans were drawn by Messrs Mason and Wales, and work was begun in September, the site being on Bridgman street, South Duncdin, It was expected that tho hall would be completed about May next. However, the war upset the calculations of the builders. Thirty-six large steel girders are required for the roof, and an ordor for them was placed in Scotland. The war delayed their manufacture, and they have not yet coine to hand, the result being that work lias not progressed nearly so quickly as it would otherwise have done. However, they are expected to arrive shortly, and the, completion of the contract will not then be a lengthy matter. Tho new building, when finished, "will bo an imposing structure, and will be one of tho b<?st drill halls in the dominion. It will not, it is true, have such a large floor space as the King Edward Barracks, in Christchurch, but it will be a much more solidly-finished structure than the latter, and will contain a very much larger number of rooms and offices. The ground plan is 300 ft by 150 ft, and covers an area of 1 aero lrd, and tho large central hall, inside, will be 259 ft in length by 100 ft in breadth. This large hall, which will bo the principal drilling place, will not be floored in with any material, but will be left as it is, as a clay floor. It will be covered with a large gable roof, made of iron and supported by steel girders, and light will be supplied by means of 32 roof lights, each 9ft by sft in area. This central hall will be of one storey, and will thus be <very commodious and lofty.

The -whole length of tho front of the building will have .a space cut off from the main hall, and : devoted to offices, orderly rooms, etc. On the front northern corner, facing Bridgman street, will be a number of offices devoted to permanent staff officials, and along the rest of the front ground floor will be various officers' rooms, transport and machine-gun rooms, modelling rooms, stores, etc. On the ground floor a space at the southern end, which will run in art oblong course for about 100 ft, will be used as a miniature rifle range, and will bo partitioned off from the main central hall for this purpose. With the exception of these partitions, the main hall will occupy the whole of the ground floor. On the first floor, rooms for various purposes will Tun around three sides of the building, the back wall, away from Bridgman street, being excluded. There will be a room for cadets, band rooms, communication oompany's storerooms, noncommissioned officers' Tooms, offioers' clubrooms, several orderly rooms and stores, an officers' library and billiaa-d----room, and a lecture room. A small third storey will be added on the northern front corner, where a six-roomed caretaker's house will be built. A feature of this will be that a small portion of the roof, 45ft by 25ft, will be loft flat, to serre as a caretaker's yard. A gallery, Bft in width, will run right, around the hall inside, level with the first floor.

The outer walls of the hall will br- of red brick, with ccment facings. There will be one main entrance door, and several smaller ones, and over the main door the Royal coat-of-arms will be done in Oamaru stone. The upper storeys will be supported by pillars of reinforced concrete. These pillars are exceptionally strong, and the method of their formation is interesting. Eight lin solid steel -rods are tied together in the shape of a pillar, with large interstices between them. They are then encased in a hollow, box-work mould, and cement, of a syrup-like consistency, is .poured into the mould, and thoroughly rammed in. When it has hardened the boxing is removed, and the firm, strong pillaT remains. The building is supported by vertical and horizontal pillars constructed in this way, and the result is that it is of a strength which should be sufficient to withstand the strongest earthquake shock. From Bridgman street the building will, when finished, have a very substantial appearance. The massive brick body-work will be surmounted by the gabled Toof, the main gable being formed by the roof of the central hall, parallel to Bridgman street, while two others will run, at right angles to the main one, along the two ends of the building.