HILLSIDE AND ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 54, 27 November 1926, Page 9

HILLSIDE AND ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS

GOVERNMENT TO DO FOUNDATION WORK

' ROOFING OF AMERICAN MATERIAL

Dominion Special.

Dunedin, November 26.

The work of reconstructing the Railway Workshops at Hillside and Addington, for which the local builder (Mr. W. McLellan) has tendered successfully, will be put in hand almost immediately, but it will be a month or more before the Dunedin contractors commence operations, as the Government has decided to do all the foundation work itself. As stated tn a recent telegram, the iron and steel work will be supplied by the British firm of Sir William Arrol and Company. The erection of all the steel work will be undertaken by the Dunedin Engineering Company as subcontractors. It is interesting to note that there will be absolutely no brickwork in either of the buildings, which will consist mainly of steel, iron, and concrete work The roofs will be flat after the style of the northern shops. It was intended that all the roofing should be British material, but it has since been ascertained that the British article is too dear, with the result that American material will be used. Ihe roofing will consist of alternating layers of bituminised fabric and liquid bitumen, the whole being permanently protected by a macadamised surface. The boiling bitumen will be sprayed on the roof from marble oilfired reservoirs. The roof areas for the two units of the contract will* total about seven and a half acres.

The sub-contractors will engage about fiftv men for the steel work, and the building contractors expect to find work for a similar number. Towards the end of the contract more men will be required. The contractors have not received any'definite information in respect to the total cost of the work, as they are not sure which of their tenders has been accepted, but the contract price is about £190,000 for the two shops.