BUILDING RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 546, 26 December 1928, Page 16

BUILDING RECORD

AUCKLAND’S PROGRESS £1,644,104 SPENT THIS YEAR The year 1928 has provided a new building record for Auckland. The permits issued during th year have a total value of £1,644,104, the previous record being £1,607,194 in 1926. This has been mainly due to building activities in the centre of the city where several huge commercial structures have replaced old buildings that had served for many years. Queen Street and Shortland Street have been the thoroughfares mainly concerned. New private residences have fallen off considerably. The record includes £328,000 for the new railway station, but apart from this there is every reason for satisfaction in the maintainence of the figures during a period when money has been very short. A remarkable feature lias been the speed with which some of the new buildings have been erected. Most of them have been carried up to the 102 ft limit, and one building went up at the rate of a floor a week, a remarkable feat. * The Civic Square just managed to see a start made with new buildings, and it is anticipated that next year will see most of the main block built over. Permits for private residences totalled 412 for 1928, as against 471 in* 1927 and 607 in 1926. The sum of £ 404,314 was involved in purely private residences, the average being just under £I,OOO. In comparing this year’s figures with those for earlier periods, the fact that the city has recently been considerably enlarged by the amalgamation of Avondale Tamaki and Orakei has to be taken into account. The value of the permits issued for each month of the past three years is shown in the following table:

No exceptionally large projects were launched in December. The largest permits were for the building being erected on the Civic Square for Messrs. Tanfield, Potter and Company, £17,000, and for warehouse additions, costing £ 5,000 for the Texas Oil Company in Packenham Street.

1928 1027 1926 £ £ £ January 68,051 53,203 71,947 February - . 211,809 112,195 148,503 March . . 98,866 3 69,248 154,218 April . . 53,785 167,288 128,541 May .. . . - . 103,437 ' 120,831 56,901 June . . 159,540 70,930 155,624 July 96,960 91,206 139,080 August . . . . 137,926 99,902 89,028 September . . 106,952 78,142 230,043 October .. 452,83 8 57,123 171,339 November 89,790 245,633 109,399 December 64,170 112,142 152,571 £1,644,104 £1,377,663 £1,607,194