Month of May Was Builders’ Busy Time

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 681, 5 June 1929, Page 14

Month of May Was Builders’ Busy Time

1928 FIGURES PASSED NEW CITY PREMISES City building statistics for May are a remarkable record of Auckland's steady expansion, both in city and residential areas. Permits issued by the City Council during the first five months of the year represent a value of £572.747, against £535,94S in the corresponding period of 1928, an increase of £39,799. A reassuring feature is that the building revival does cot appear to be spasmodic, for the activity this year has been remarkably evenly spread, and the May returns are the fourth of the year to exceed the £IOO,OOO mark. Actually the buildings commenced this year represent a considerably higher value than the official returns indicate, by reason of the fact that a permit has yet to be issued for the building of the Civic Theatre, for which a contract, said to be in the vicinity of £250,000, was recently signed. That addition to the official figures will do much to compensate for the fillip given to last year’s record figures by the inclusion of the £328,000 contract for the erection of the new railway system. The measure of the city’s building activity is illustrated in the following table, comparing the value of the permits issued at the Town Hall during the first five months of 1929 and 1925:

Totals .. £572,747 £535,948 Included in last month's permits were several substantial works. These included the erection of a warehouse for Rutland Buildings, Limited, in Rutland Street, £22.400; a warehouse for the Auckland Drug Company in Federal Street, £10,651; the remodelling of the Britannia Theatre, Ponsonby, £6,661; and alterations to the Hotel Auckland, Queen Street, £5,300. While residential growth may be expected to be on a large scale t in the suburbs beyond the city bounds, the building of new homes within the city steadily continues, and the average for the early part of last year of one new house a day is at present being substantially exceeded. Permits for 211 houses hav"e so far been issued this year, against 150 in the first five mouths of last year. In the following table of permits for houses the corresponding 1928 figures are shown in parentheses: January, 41 (19); February, 37 (3S); March, 46 (39); April, 44 (26); May, 43 (28).

January £125,599 £68,051 February 111,804 211.809 March . . 106,441 98,866 April 89,994 53,785 May .. .. 10S.909 103,437