SAFER BUILDINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 189, 12 August 1931, Page 11

SAFER BUILDINGS

GISBORNE'S ACTIVITIES TABOOED CONSTRUCTIONS

UNSTABLE ADORNMENTS Co-operation between the propertyowners in the Gisborne business area and the municipal authorities has produced sound and tangible results in the course of the safety-first campaign initiated as a result of the earthquakes in February and May, says the “Poverty Bay Herald.” Many buildings which formerly carried heavy parapets and other ornamentation have been simplified in their appearance and improved to a great extent in the feature of earthquake-resistance, and the work is going on as fast as the building contractors are able to handle it. Within i a few weeks Gladstone road will have • developed a sky-line very different from that sH.»n by photographs taken | only a month or two ago, and most of i the hazards revealed by the earthquake | period will have been reduced to mini- ;' mum proportions. The majority of the buildings on ' whi'ch work is being done suffered i little or no damage by the earthquakes, j and the removal of the top-hamper has I been undertaken with a view to pro- ' fiting in the future by the lessons of the recent past. It is extremely satisfactory to record that with perhaps one exception the property-owners of Gisborne have continued to exercise the fullest co-operation with the municipal authorities, adopting -without argument the measures recommended for the removal of earthquake dangers, and facing the expense involved with the philosophical mood of men meeting ] insurance premiums. Chimneys and Cracked Walls. An approximate estimate of the total cost of the work necessitated by the earthquakes in Gisborne is £10,01)0. • In this estimate is included the ex- . pense of re-instating some 800 or 900 . chimneys brought down by the earth- 1 quakes on 3rd February and 9th May, < the replacement of walls cracked or bulged, and cleaning up of damage such as was done in Peel street, where a parapet crashed through a verandah and on to the footway. Aso there is included the cost of reducing the height I of parapets which were not affected by the earthquakes, but which might prove a source of danger. If an earthquake should occur the town will be in much better condition ' to withstand it, for an immense amount < of superfluous weight has been removed < already from the tops of buildings, and in the majority of cases gables which formerly abutted right on to the brick and concrete facades have been cut back into the form of hip-roofs. These steps alone should do much to limit < damage and risk to human life in the < event of a shock. 1 Three “Taboos.” Three definite principles in building have been evolved as a result of the < study of earthquake damage in Wairoa . and the towns nearer the centre of the February disturbance. They are all prohibitory in their character. In future heavy parapets, gable roofs, and suspended verandahs are to be ■ taboo. In these forms of construction lie the main sources of structural damage, according to the observations ] of Mr. G. E. Darton, borough engineer. : There were notable instances in which suspended verandahs, secured by long tie-rods running well back into the main structures, had survived the earthquakes without damage, said Mr. Darton, but most of the •cases in Wairoa, in which front walls had been pulled out of tho business premises, , were attributable partly to the oseiUa- , tion of their suspended verandahs. The gable roof, as opposed to the hip roof, was shown by investigations here and elsewhere to be tho least satisfactory type, since the oscillation developed in the course of an earthquake was transferred to front and rear walls which were not constructed to withstand the thrust; hence the necessity for cutting back the gables and their conversion to the hip-roof principle. A glance along the roof-lines of buildings in Gladstone road will give a sufficient indication of the manner in which the precautionary work is proceeding. Some parapets were found to be many feet above the point at whi’ch structural strength existed, and in the process of removing ornamental work from many buildings, contractors have encountered evidence that earth- i quake risks could never have been taken into consideration in the original ; designs. In one or two cases, stone and concrete ornaments have been held in place only by the strength of the mortar in which they were set; but a more general form of hazard lay in the weight of the parapets and the incorporated scrolling and balustrading. Many an imposing facade has had ' to come down, leaving the affected buildings with a shorn and unfamiliar countenance, but on the whole the 1 work has given to the roof-lines of the 1 business area a cleaner and more uni- 1 form appearance. -