Building Notes.

Progress, Volume XIII, Issue 10, 1 June 1918, Page 236

Building Notes.

AUCKLAND. The new additions to the buildings for Messrs. Dalgety and Co.. Ltd., being erected to designs of Messrs. Chilwell and Trevithick, A.A.R.1.8.A., in the Strand will have a floor space of 76,000 feet super, on each floor. When completed the whole store will have an area of a little over half acre on each floor. Height 12ft. each floor. Frontage I4Bft. to road. The whole of the foundations and outer walls are of reinforced concrete, and the posts and beams are of ironbark. Provision for concrete hide washing space top lighted under beams and cart arches to the Main road, and railway siding at rear under the new railway scheme. The elevation shows the modern factory arrangements of lighting to be a minimum or doors and walls and a maximum of window space. The roof is designed on the sawtooth principle with Southern light uninterrupted the whole length of each space. Oovvperthwaites concrete tiles en main pitch of roof. Works to be completed in October next. Julian and Sons, Contractors £15,197. Messrs. Chilwell and Trevithick have also in hand a building for the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. Ltd. adjoining and communicating with the above building. Each floor has half an acre of space, with a height of lsft. bin. clear under beams. Frontage to road 128 ft. The whole of the building is of reinforced concrete including roof trusses. Elevation is designed in harmony with the above building. Saw-tooth roof and concrete tiles. Two triple cart arches under one span; covered railway siding at back. Work to be finished early in 1919. G. H. Edwards, contractor. Price, £25.989 exclusive of equipment which include two

hydraulic wool and flax presses on each floor in centre of building. Electric conveyor, electric portable crane and hoists and three radiating chutes which will operate over the whole of the ground floor. Offices for staff and dining room, etc., are provided for in each building. It is hoped that the store when finished will prove to be one of the most up-to-date - wool stores in the Dominion. Messrs. May and Moran called for tenders for extensions in brick to Messrs. ,T. J. Craig’s Exhibition at King’s wharf. Messrs. Ed. Mahoney and Son called for tenders for additions to house in Victoria Avenue. The Auckland Education Board; through its architect Mr. Jiio. Farrell, called for tenders for the erection in brick of a school building at Otahuhu last month. The foundation stone of the new fertilizer works at Te Papapa was laid ■ last month. When completed, it is claimed the works will be the largest superphosphate and sulphuric acid works in the Southern Hemisphere, and their capacity will be over (50,000 tons a year. It is estimated they will cost approximately £250.000. The works are now in process of erection, the power-house being practically completed, while considerable progress has been made with portion -of the main . buildings. The works are situated to the left of the railway, line, a few hundred yards from the railway station, from which railway access is being made tc the works. Plans-for the Red Cross workroom, to be erected at the hospital annexe in the Domain, have been approved. The work is to be proceeded with at once under the Board’s architect, Mr. Allsop. The workroom will be an addition to the annexe, on the east corner. and will contain over 2.000 square feet of floor space. The now workroom will be fitted up to enable wood-carving, timber-working, and anything which may engage the activities of the soldier patients, to be carried out; . CHRISTCHURCH. The contractor- for the erection of the new convent of St. Mary’s, Colombo street, has started work on the foundations. The new structure is to be erected on the lawn area at the rear- of the existing building, which will be removed when the new one is completed. The contractor for the building is Mr. B. Moore, and the contract price (exclusive of the heating and lighting of the premises) is £9,287. Mr. J. S. Guthrie is the architect. The new wing of the Technical College was opened early this month. It is a two-storeyed brick edifice, with an entrance from iMoorhouse avenue. Downstairs it contains an engineering drawing room, and public service class room, and upstairs an agricultural classroom, an art room, an altered physics laboratory, and a common room for the staff, which was the old balance room. Separate from these buildings is a new cloak room and lavatory for the girls, in connection with the domestic science classes. The laying of the foundation stone to the new building at St. Albans school took place on the 25th of last month. Three new rooms (very badly anted) are to be added in brick. This building. would form the first quarter of what was intended to be a complete school. The amount of the contract for the present three rooms, without furniture, was £2,153. The Board, of Governors of Canterbury College have taken the step of purchasing a substantial block of land with which to meet the further increases in the roll of the Boy’s High School which must. inevitably come in the near future and. at a recent meeting it was announced that a block of land comprising 261 acres had been purchased from Mr. Deans, Eiccarton, as a playing area and future site for the Boys’ High School.. The land has a frontage to Stravern road and to other roads at present unformed. The Avon flows through one corner of the block. The purchase price was £ll,lOO. It is not proposed to build for some considerable time. The ground will be used as a playing ground in the meantime. Tenders were called for additions and alterations to the Marble Bar. by Messrs. England Bros. Mr. Roy Lovell-Srnith called for tenders' for a residence on Cashmere Hills. The south-eastern side of Cathedral Square is to have a nqw building for the,-use- of • the Tramway Board, the top floor of which the Harbour Board propose to lease.

The total cost of the Addington Library building, which was erected by the City Council by day labour, amounted £5(14 17s. lid., being £l7 17s. lid. more than the lowest tender received for the work. Councillor JBeanland, chairman of the Works Committee, informed the Council that a “real good job" had been effected. It is not often that day labour contracts come so near to an open tender price. The Canterbury Education Board invite tenders for heating new rooms at Sydenham school with a hot water heating system. A mild scare was created in the city recently when a crack was discovered in the New Government Buildings. Mr. J. Mc.Ennis district engineer of the Public Works Department, and Mr. W. G. Jamieson, one of the contractors for the building, inspected the crack. Mr. McEnnis subsequently stated that he considered the disturbance was only a local one, and that there was no cause for alarm. The crack was due, not to the sinking of the foundations, but to the contraction of the stone and the concrete, the stone having a tendency to shrink. About eighteen months ago a.crack appeared in that part of the building facing Cathedral square, due to the expansion of the concrete. Levels were taken in the building at that time, and proved quite true. Mr. Jamieson expressed the opinion that the foundations were so substantial that an express train could be driven over the building with perfect safety to the structure. Owing to the variations of heat and cold in Christchurch there was often a disturbance in the stonework of buildings, and the Government offices did not compare unfavourably in this respect with many another building in the city. The lead light workers dispute has been settled by the Conciliation Court by adopting the present agreement with the following amendments: Lead glaziers, plate-glass cutters, and hand bevellers, Is. (id. per hour; and silverers, polishers, leadlight • workers, and machine bevellers, Is. 3id. per hour. The agreement will come into operation on July sth, and will hold good for a term of two years from that date. DUNEDIN. With a view to providing suitable sites for the development of the manufacturing and other industries of the city, the Otago Harbour Board placed a large block of land adjoining the water-front on the market. Some sixty sections were offered for lease. As an incentive to settlement the board has taken 25 per cent, off the upsets fixed by it’s valuer. Eight of the sections offered for lease were disposed of by auction, and since then applications for two more sections have been received by the board. The contractor for the new Anglican Cathedral (several illustrations of which have appeared in these pages) has reached the highest point of the building, and last month Archdeacon Fitchett placed in position a finial on the northern turret. The tops of these towers are 130 ft. above the lowest step at the Octagon Entrance. Owing to the fact that the platform space was restricted, and had to be reached by a series of long ladders, no representative gathering was possible. Besides the Archdeacon, the Rev. H. O. Fenton, Mr. Basil Hooper, Mr. Stanley Smith, Mr. McLennan (contractor) and Mr. Haig (the clerk of works) were present. The finial on the south turret was placed in position by Mr. Basil Hooper, local representative of the Home architects. The scaffolding is being removed as the stone work is cleaned down, and a good idea of the final appearance of the west front will soon be obtainable. Surveyors are now engaged on the Teviot Estate, which was recently acquired by the Government for discharged soldiers. They are now picking a road-line. The Phantom block, which comprises about 7,000 acres, or half the estate, is the better portion. It has a good supply of water, possesses excellent soil, and is more suitable for sub-division into medium-sized areas than the western portion of the block. The alterations to the building selected by the Red Cross Society as a military convalescent home for sick and wounded soldiers are being pushed on energetically, and it is hoped that the institution will bo opened in the last week of this month. Major-General Henderson who paid a visit of inspection recently was delighted with the comfortable house and its beautiful grounds, and expressed the opinion that it should make an ideal home for soldiers

in need of medical attention, amid surroundings designed to accelerate their complete recovery to .health. The project is being taken up very enthusiastically by country branches, and many are organising concerts and other entertainments for its benefit. .Several offers of help have already been received and more are sure to come when the country efforts are properly under way. It is intended soon to call for tenders for a recreation room and functional hospital very important departments in any useful convalescent home. The Southland Hospital Board has decided to try to arrange with the Southland A. & P. Association to take over the dining room and grand stand at the slioav ground and convert them into a hospital ward to relieve the congestion in the present hospital. The board will also shortly be moving cases out to Lome Farm where accommodation was arranged for last November. The consumptive sanatorium at Kcw is now practically ready for occupation. At a special meeting on Tuesday evening' the board decided to initiate a comprehensive scheme, and it is about to ask for Ministerial sanction for the purchase of am additional block of land at Kew. This is to be used to establish the nucleus of a new hospital for Southland, as there is no room available for extension on the present site. The board is instructing its architect to draw up a scheme of buildings for submission to a subsequent meeting. Tenders are invited by Messrs. Mason and Wales, architects, for the erection of hospital buildings (brick), at Waikari. HAMILTON. Another public meeting has been held to consider the Soldiers’ Club proposition, and an offer was put before the meeting of a suitable site from the Borough Council at a very low rent. The- club was to be available to citizen and soldier members and would afterwards revert to the municipality. £1,150 was subscribed of the £5,000 required. HORNBY. At a meeting of the Hornby School Committee it was decided to call for competitive designs for a water tower, for a soldiers’ memorial to be erected at the school.

K A Will A. Tenders are being called by Messrs. Ed. Mahoney and Son, for the erection in brick and concrete of a building for the Bank of New Zealand. MASTER TON. It is proposed to erect a convalescent ward for soldiers as an annexe to the Masterton Hospital. The Mayor (Mr. Coradinel has given notice to move that the sum of £5,000 be voted by the: Patriotic Association towards the ward. MAT AM AT A. Tenders are called for additions (in wood) to the school building by the Auckland Education Board. OXFORD. The North Canterbury Hospital Board are about to build a maternity home at Oxford.

ROTORUA. Tenders were called early this month for the erection in wood of two hospital wards, officers' and orderlies’ quarters, bath-house, workshops. etc., at Pukeroa Hill, Rotorua, for the Defence Department. Plans and specifications may be seen at the Defence offices, Auckland and Palmerston North, Tourist office, Rotorua, and the office of the Director of Works, Railways Head Office, Wellington. THAMES. Tenders were invited early this month for alterations and additions to the Thames Police station. TIMA Ell. The Timaru Presbytery have purchased for £3,000 Mr. E. A. Le Cren’s property iii North street, for the purpose of a Presbyterian orphanage for South Canterbury. The section contains IT acres of land, beautifully laid out in lawn and garden, and on it is an almost new brick house of 10 rooms. The purchase was made after the property had been inspected by the Rev. Frank Rule, of Christchurch, who pronounced it ideal for orphanage purposes. WAIPARA. A project is afoot for the erection of a Casualty ward and Maternity Home for Waipara. WELLINGTON. Tenders are being called for the erection in brick and concrete of a now factory for Hamilton’s New Zealand Welding Co. in Waterloo Quay. Tenders are being called by the Public Works Department for a police station at Island Bay. The new Fire Brigade Station in Constable street is now likely to become a reality. A tender has been let to Messrs. Trevor Bros, for the erection of the station building, and it is hoped by this time next year the station will be fully equipped. "Large' office and factory premises are being erected in Dixon street for the Christchurch firm of Messrs. H. Berry and Go., salt* and spice merchants. The front of the building will consist of three storeys and a basement, and the back building (The factory) with be two storeys in height. Tire contract price is about £O,OOO. Recently tenders were invited by the Labour Department for the building of six homes for workers on the Maranui Flat, Kilbirnie. After Cabinet had authorised the expenditure, a contractor whose tender had been approved asked for an increase of about £6O on each house over the amount that he had quoted in .March last (about a 10 per cent, increase). He stated that this request was due wholly to the rise in cost of materials, and that his profit would be the same as it would have been on the original basis, if materials had been available at the prices in his estimates. The Department declined the request. Negotiations are now in progress with another builder.