CHANGES NOT ORDERED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 16

CHANGES NOT ORDERED

CIVIC THEATRE PLANS FOUNDATIONS ON ROCK Expressing the view that the published reports of the statement made to the City Council by the acting-city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, concerning the new Civic Theatre, were inclined to be misleading. Air. S. Rogers, representing the Super Construction Co., Ltd., which is acting in conjunction with the Fletcher Construction Company in the building of the theatre, has made a statement surveying the situation. The report stated that Air. Tyler said the work had been regularly inspected, but it had been found that certain foundations had had to be altered, and amended plans of this work had been supplied. Ali\ Rogers said this made it appear that the City Council had requested the alterations to be made. Such was not the case. The architect supervising the work had found, during the excavations, that a type of foundation different from that in the original specifications would be more suited to the land. Alterations were accordingly made, and the amended plans forwarded to the City Council for approval. This was immediately forthcoming. "When the work was commenced the detailed plans had not been fully prepared,” Air. Rogers said. "However, we were given permission by the City Council to carry out work up to the level of the street. The full permit will be given when Air. Bohringer, the architect, arrives from Sydney on Monday with the completed plans.” Air. Regers added that there had been no question of dispute between the acting-city engineer or the building inspector and the contractors. All parties had worked together most amicably. ROCK FOUNDATIONS The steel, brick, and concrete walls of the new theatre will rest on a foundation of solid rock. This has necessitated extensive excavations, entailing the removal of the old banks and bed of the Ligar Canal, exposing the blue marine rock on which the foundations of the theatre will rest. Early Aucklanders drew their water supply from the Ligar Canal, and in the Civic Theatre’s winter garden, which will occupy the excavation, ladies will sit at afternoon tea several feet below the level of the banks where Alaori women of past generations sat and fished.