Building Notes.

Progress, Volume XVII, Issue 9, 1 May 1922, Page 213

Building Notes.

AUCKLAND. The building operations in the city for the year ended March 31st last showed ' a falling. 'off as compared with the figures for the preceding year. The year ended March 31st, 1921, however, was a record one in- values compared-with the operations of any previous year: During the period just closed 2,196 permits were issued by the, City Council for buildings, of a total i value of .£692,376. The permits for the previous year- totalled 2,046, and -the i total value £895,623. Despite this disparity the dwellings erected during'.the year 1 just ended numbered 373, or 145 more than in the previous year] and the value totalled £388,305, being £51,432 in excess of the total for the year before. The drop in the grand' total - shown in the figures, just made available is accounted for by the fact that the value of the business premises for which permits were issued was £207,042 less than the total cost of those erected during the year ended March 31st, 1921, while additions and alterations cost £85,178 less. .Details of the buildings erected during the year, together with additions and alterations to buildings, are as follows: Domestic Buildings 373, value £388,305 ; shops and residences 4, value £5,512; business premises 30, value £98,470; public buildings 9, value £60,266; additions and alterations value £139,823. Total £692,376. .

In a report presented to the Auckland Electric Power Board recently the engineer to the board, Mr. A. Wylie, recommended that the erection of a building to accommodate the Board’s offices and stores on the power station site in Quay Street be proceeded with immediately. He mentioned that the present storerooms were altogether inadequate and unsafe and must be quickly removed to make room for the new railway siding. As the material to be stored would be a big item the new stores would have to be on a large scale. He suggested building the offices on a large enough scale to meet all the board’s requirements, the present temporary offices already being too cramped. The building is estimated to cost ,£12,000.

The v permits issued in Mount Albert for the three weeks ended April Bth were: —16 for dwellings valued at ,£12,560, it for additions and alterations valued at £396, and 3 for other buildings valued at ,£450, the total value being ,£13,406.

Building permits issued from April 7th to -28th, were as follows:— 3 permits for dwellings, value £4,600; 5 permits for alteration and additions, £,'195; 1 permit for brick bakehouse, ,£420; 2 permits for motor garages, £4B. Totalling, ,£5,263.

The permits issued during the year ended March 31st last were for buildings of a total value of £,'274,656. Of this total the new school in Kowhai Street represented £31,000. Of the remainder 253 dwellings represented £,220,685, three shops and dwellings £..3,125, one part dwelling ,£250, five shops £3,110, additions and alterations to dwellings £5,346. The progress of Takapuna during the year was illustrated in the town clerk’s report on building permits to the Takapuna Borough Council. The number of permits issued during the year ended March 31st, 1922, was 183, with a total value of £81,124. Permits for private dwellings numbered 106, with a value of £67,699. For additions, 70 permits were issued, the value being £8,050. Six business premises, valued at £4,125, and one institution, valued at £1,250, were erected. For the 1920-21 period, the value of the permits issued was £63,955, and for the 1919-20 period, the value was £51,253. In 1913, the, first year of the Borough Council’s activities, the permits issued had a total value of £29,824. The growth of Devonport was evidenced by the annual report of the building inspector, the return showing that during the year ended March 31st last, 96 new buildings had been erected, of the value of £79,626, and 86 premises had been altered or added to at a cost of £14,628., making a;total increased value of £94,254. For the previous year the values were: —New buildings £24,000, alterations, £3,935, total £27,935. During the year, Mount Eden received additions in the shape of 123 new houses of a thoroughly modern type, representing an outlay of £108,6x2, while the business section of the borough was improved by the erection of nine new shops and seven factories. The 404 permits issued during the year entailed an expenditure of £ x 37,937- This is an increase on the previous year as shown by the fact that for the 12 months ended March 31st, 1921, the sum of £118,407 was spent,- as a result of the granting of 321 permits, of which 107 were for residences.

The Newmarket Borough Council issued 58 building permits, representing an expenditure of £ 18,752, of which 5,565 was absorbed in the erection of eleven new shops and five new houses. The shops are to be erected for Messrs. J. J. Craig Ltd., and Mr. T. Dempsey, and should be completed within the next four months. In 2\ years 22 shops have been erected. The value of the Borough of Onehunga was increased by the erection of 81 new houses and shops, at a total cost of £69,185, and numerous small additions and alterations, which put a further £6,230 in circulation. A contract for the erection of a Methodist Sunday School at Northcote has been let, price being over £2,000. The new’ building, which has ■ been • • designed by Messrs! McDonald, Mullions and Smith, architects, for the Waitemata and , Manukau County Councils, will contain three floors and a basement, and will have a frontage of 44ft. gin. to Princes Street and 36ft. to Shortland Street. Provision is made on the ground floor for a • council chamber measuring 17ft. sin. by 26ft., and several.general

offices, with the main entrance from Princes Street, leading into a spacious lobby giving access by way of a wide stairway - to the floors above. The first floor will be used exclusively by the Manukau County Council and the second floor by the Waitemata County Council. Each of these floors will contain a general office, clerk’s and engineer’s offices, committee and drafting-rooms. Provision is made above the main roof for drying and blue-print rooms, which will be used by the draftsmen of both bodies. Ample storage room is provided in the basement, access to which will be obtained through double doors on the Short land Street frontage, wide enough to permit of the entry of a motor-car. Although essentially a business block, the building will be treated in Gothic Style. The contract for the erection of the new building is in the hands of the Fletcher Construction Company, and it is understood that the cost will be between £5,000 and £6,000. Messrs. Arnold & Abbott, Architects, invited tenders for the erection of a block of shops and offices (in brick), at. Khyber Pass, for Messrs. George Kent & Sons. Messrs. G. E. Jones & A. J. Palmer, invited tender: last-' month for the erection, of a Chapel (in brick and stone), for the Diocesan High School. . ' Messrs. McDonald, Mullions & Sholto Smith, Architects, called tenders for the erection of a residence at Mount Albert. Mr. P. Selwyn Goldsbro’, Architect, invited tenders during the month for the erection (in reinforced concrete and brick) of factory and store, for the N.Z. Paper Mills Ltd. Mr. D. B. Patterson, Architect, called for tenders for the erection (in brick) of a residence at Epsom. Messrs. Grierson & Aimer invited tenders for the erection, in brick, of Manure Ava Children’s Home Isolation Block. • Messrs. Holman & Moses, Architects, invited tenders for tho erection of a residence at Remuera. Messrs. Lippincott and Billson, Architects, invite tenders

(closing June 2nd, 1922) for the erection of Students’ Clubhouse in stone and reinforced concrete, upon the University College Grounds This firm also invites tenders (till June 3rd, 1922) for the erection of an Arts Building (of reinforced concrete and stone), for the University College Council on the College grounds. CHRISTCHURCH. The people of Papanui have decided to erect a memorial to the Papanui boys who fell in the great war. The memorial is to take the form of a Town Hall and Library, plans for which have been prepared by Messrs. Guthrie Bros, the tender for erection of the building of Mr. J. Smith, for £ 5,95 0 has been accepted. It will include a library, a reading room and a hall to seat 400 people. Another Avar memorial hall is to be built at Green Park, the contractors for which are Messrs.' Paynter & Hamilton, and the cost is to be £1421 10s. The hall, which is being erected in brick, will be 67 feet long by 30 feet wide, and will have a stage 20 feet by 10 feet,

and a dressing room 10 feet by 9 feet, with a kitchen and boiler house at the back. ■'During March 57 building permits were issued in the city, representing a building value of £26,521. For March last year the permits were 25 and the value £14,110. For the financial year ending March 31st, the total permits issued were 681, representing a building value of £473,987, and for the corresponding period - last year the permits were 543 and the building value £442,438. Eleven tenders were received for the erection of the new municipal offices on the Manchester street site, and that of Mr. W. Williamson, of Christchurch, was accepted. The contract price is . £40,980 and the building has to be finished in ten months. Mr. T. S. Dacre, invited tenders for the erection of a bungalow at Beckenham. Messrs. .Collins & Harman, Architects, invited tenders for alterations to the Yorkshire Insurance Co. building. Messrs. Prouse & Gummer, Architects, Auckland, invite tenders till May 24th, for the erection of a War Memorial Bridge and Arch at the junction of Cashel Street with the river Avon. PALMERSTON NORTH. Our attention has been drawn to an error in the cost of the Infants School building, recently built at Palmerston North. The architects, Messrs. Anscombe & Associates, of Dunedin inform us that the price including blinds, and low pressure hot water heating system was £8,665 not £IB,OOO.