THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 30, 1910. LONDON'S NEW POST OFFICE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10056, 30 May 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 30, 1910. LONDON'S NEW POST OFFICE.

The new King Edward VII. Post Office, designed by Sir Henry Turner, which is now in course of construction, is described as "the most wonderful building in England." mainly, it would seem, because it is being built of ferro-concrete. It is the strength of this system which bus made the wonders of the new block possible, and some idea of the dimen sions of the building can be gained from the fact that the site occupies four and half acres, which have been excavated to a depth of 30feet, and j some 127,000 cubic yards of material had to be removed before the structure could be commenced. Owing to the strength of the walls built of ferro-concrete the retaining walls, which would ordinarily have been no less than eight feet in thickness, are only Bin, and the 3ft exterior walls which would have had to be used are only 6in in thickness. The result of thia is the enormous saving in space of 10,000lt super on the basement floor and 5,000 ft on each of ' the other flrors. Another remarkable fact is that none of the outer walls start from the groui d. 1 he retaining walls are built up to just below ground level and there finish, so that the building stands in the great walled in space. The building itself is supported on the basement floors on columns 28in square, acros3 the

I tops of which ran ferro-concrete j ] girders in spans of 29ft 6in, an J « each girder safely supports some < 1500 tons. The result of this method is that even the lowest floor receives i daylight from the space between the | retaining walla and the exterior of ■ the building. Any one can walk right under the structure and emerge under | the supporting girders into the space j up to the retaining walls. Every step in construction has been tested, and each span 40ft by 34ft, will bear 273 tons with only 3-16 in deflection. On the eastern end of the sorting-rooms the unloading platform has not a pil- | lar throughout its entire length, but the building above it is supported on a giant ferro-concrete girder, 147 ft in leng;b, and in addition to the weight of the stories above it supports a glass roof weighing 70 tons.ln the ordinary course 15,000 tons of steel would have been used in columns and girders, but only 3,000 tons of steel needles and rods are used to tie the concrete. Inside the great sorting-nnrns 11 miles of sorting benches are being erected, and the torteis can be overlooked from end to end of the rooms from speciallyconstructed observation chambers raided round the sides of the building and in direct communication with the stairways. Inside this marvellous building over 3,000 workers will be installed, and the whole of the top floor is given up to mess-rooms, kitchens, cooking rooms, and sleeping accommodation, while the roof, probably the largest flat roof in the world, will he used for miniature rifle ranges for the P.O. Territorials.