ENORMOUS BUILDING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 816, 9 November 1929, Page 28

ENORMOUS BUILDING

FOR BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR EMPIRE’S BIGGEST BLOCK The new building at Olympia, in London, two storeys of which have to be ready for the British Industries Fair next February, is not only to be the biggest building in the Empire, but it is breaking all records for speed in construction, says an exchange. The architect responsible for the hustle, Mr. Joseph Emberton, A.R.1.8.A., recently gave some facts and figures. “During the last 10 weeks,” he said, “5,000 tons of steel have been erected —an average of 500 tons a week, as compared with the normal rate in London of 100 tons a week. During the week before August Bank Holiday SOO tons were delivered and erected.

“Eighty-four engineers have been employed in the calculation and design of the steel structure. Ninety erectors have been working continuously, and two shifts have been employed each day. “All the steel has been manufactured in the rolling-mills of Messrs. Dorman Long and Company, and the fabrication has been carried out in numerous engineering works in the Midlands and Middlesborougli, it being beyond the capacity of any one works to produce the completed material quickly enough. “Some of the girders weigh 22 tons each, and some of the steel columns carry 1,500 tons. For the erection of these ponderous members, two 20-ton cranes were brought from Newcastle, where they were used in the erection ol the great Tyne Bridge which was opened last year by the King. Cranes of this size have never before been used in this country for other than large bridge work. “In the covering of the front of the building 1,400 cubic feet of reinforced stone have been manufactured a week, and some on the stones weigh as much as five toils each. This is probably a record-sized stone for facing purposes. The use of stones of that size was not possible until the introduction of reinforced stone. “In addition to the steel erectors, 300 men have been employed continuously ou the job and 40,000 square feet of concrete flooring have been laid in seven weeks. Four steam navvies have been used for the excavations. and 30,000 tons of earth have been removed from the site in 20 weeks.

“All this had to be done in order to produce the necessary floor space for the next British Industries Fair. The especially large steel members were necessary because it is essential for exhibition purposes to have large spans of open floor space unencumbered by columns. The spans at Olympia are probably the largest in the country, the columns being placed over 50ft apart. “Five months ago we had not-started to demolish the houses which stood on the site. One month from now the second floor will be roofed in and made watertight, and that part of the building to be used tor the next Fair will thus be secured from the weather."