A BIG CONTRACT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13263, 23 December 1913, Page 7

A BIG CONTRACT.

MATERIALS FOR PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. (Special to Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Messrs Hansford, Wills and Hardy, the Christchurch firm who secured the Parliament building contract at £151,639, are busy getting their materials together. Ironwork for the big job has been ordered m England by cable, and will be sent out m six weeks or two months at the most. The whole building is to. be very carefully braced and reinforced with steel work as a pre- ! caution against earthquake damage, the weight o.i these ties and girders aggregating over 600 tons. The rolled gir- 1 ders, etc., have to be cut to size, riveted, and put together m the Dominion. Granite . for the basement story, 14ft high, will come from the Coromandel quarries, the amount of this material required being 12,000 cubic feet. Another huge item among the building materials is the grey marble from Sandy Bay, Motueka, of which 52,000 cubic feet will be wanted. Granite and marble constitute the facings. The interior of the walls will be of brick, and it is estimated that three millions will be used up m addition to the many thousands already put into the foundations, where concrete has not been necessary. The firm which has secured this record contract is composed of comparatively young men. Messrs Hansford and Hardy are well-known Chriatchureh. builders, and Mr Mills is an ex-London contractor at present carrying out work at the new technical school, Dunedin. Two years from December 12th have been given to complete the work, so that it is hardly possible to have even tho new legislative chambers ready for the 1915 session. ■ . '