SPEEDY BUILDING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19897, 27 March 1939, Page 5

SPEEDY BUILDING

SOCIAL SECURITY BLOCK FOUR STOREYS HIGH WORK OF SEVEN WEEKS . r NEARLY 500 MEN EMPLOYED (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. The most remarkable building record ever achieved in the Dominion, eclipsing even the quick work done to house the Napier banks after the earthquake, has been completed in Wellington, where this afternoon the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, is opening the head offices or the' Social Security Department. Seven weeks ago, the site was a rubbish-strewn part of a harbour reclamation. To-day it holds a finely constructed edifice, well-designed, finished with no evidence of hurried work. Some idea of the extent of the job is provided in the figures relating to its floor space. This reaches nearly 50,000 square feet, an area only approached by the country's largest modern skyscrapers. Just to show that the work could be done with a bit of time to spare, the Fletcher Construction Company has also completed an ornamental approach consisting of a central circle for flowers—and the flowers were actually brought from Napier during the week-end to be placed in the beds— radiating paths, asphalt covered and brick curbed. Turf is growing with no evidence of the current drought, and there are flourishing flax plants and New Zealand shrubs dotted around. Co-Ordinated Effort This- remarkable building achievement has involved organisation and direction of the most detailed character, and it was undertaken by the Fletcher Construction Company m conjunction with the Love Construction Company, which has the contract for the main buildings of the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington. ... Whatever could be fabricated off the job, and completed rea £y 10 . r fixing, has been done at the Exhibition, the State Housing joinery factory conducted by the Fletcher Company, and in many other factories. This co-ordinated effort seems to point the way to a new method of building in New Zealand. “Such a building could not have been erected at this speed,” remarked Mr. James Fletcher, the managing director of the Fletcher Construction Company, without an enormous strain on the executive officers directing operations At the same time it provided lessons in m f® s production of materials, and the utilisation of factories for the production of finished goods which required the minimum of fixing on the job. New Zealand Materials “Necessity is the mother of invention, it is said, and on this job we had to find new ways of producing some fittings, notably the heavy ones needed l'or the lavatories. Tney could not be imported, but they were made up in New Zealand of a viceable maierial, and the cost has been 50 per cent less. New Zealand materials have provided a first-class finish. “It does not look like a temporary building, eh?" continued Mr. Fletcher. “As a matter of fact both in design and construction and in workmanship it is a job which will be good in 50 years. “At the same time it is one of the cheapest office buildings erected in the country, and its maintenance cost will be low because of the materials used ”

In the emergency caused by the fire destroying the Social Security .building in Aitken street on February' 2, the building trades unions agreed to waive certain conditions of their awards, so that longer shifts could be worked. The job has been almost a continuous one, as there have been two shifts of 10 houis r; each, and other gangs of men have come on at various times, particularly on Saturdays. Frontage of 200 ft. ’ . The normal working force, apart from the scores'of others engaged an factory "work for the building, has been about 400 men per day, rising, on occasion to nearly 500. The building has a frontage ofl 200 ft... a depth of 90ft., and its height is OOU. There are four storeys in the centre, breaks in the elevation either side by the introduction of a two-storied section, rising at either end to three storeys. Oregon pine has been utilised an the heavy framework, on which were placed asbestos sheets, carrying the “key” of netting for the final finish of cement plaster of a neat biscuit tint. The floors are of matai, and practically all the other fittings of rimu. The roofs are of corrugated asbestos. Fire precautions are thorough. The ■building at night will be divided into three sections by sets of revolving steel shutters, and there is a complete system of (ire mains for every floor. Government departments need a tremendous amount of filing space, and the cabinets arc ail of steel. Furniture Reconditioned One of the side-jobs associated with the organisation of an entirely new department has been the furnishing. Material from the Pensions and Health Departments is being used, and over 200 articles of furniture have been reconditioned so that they will be presentable in their new and well-lighted surroundings. Many of the offices are already equipped, the principal ones having attractive carpeting. One of the well-thought-out ideas was to plan the location of desks requiring telephones, so that the wires could come •through the floor invisibly. Though there lis central heating throughout the building, no pipes arc visible.

The central telephone exchange has. 15 lines to the outside, and 80 connections within the building, a completed job for which the contractors 'pay high tribute to the. Post and Telegraph Department, j. Electric clocks arc fitted to all important robms, and they are already working, as also is a lift to the highest floor. A mail shute in the centre of the building enables letters to be dropped to the receptable on the ground floor, and the same principle has been adopted for rubbish, with a chute leading into the concreted basement.