WAINGAWA WORKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 July 1939, Page 4

WAINGAWA WORKS

RECONSTRUCTION UNDER WAY

COST INVOLVED ABOUT £50,000. TASK OF SOME MAGNITUDE. Good progress has been made at the Waingawa Freezing Works with the reconstruction of the beef and mutton slaughter rooms and the cooling room, which were destroyed by fire on February 4 this year. It is stated that the new work will cost in the vicinity of £50,000. About fifty men are engaged in the task in one way or another and it is expected that the building will be completed in readiness for the coming killing season. The reconstruction is confined to the second floor, on which the slaughter rooms are located. It is stated that special attention is being paid to the provision of additional facilities for the handling of chilled beef, the trade in which is growing apace. Four beef chillers (instead of two as formerly), each 90ft by 14ft, are to be constructed, besides a holding room of the same size. The mutton dressing room, in which three chain systems will operate, will be 192 ft by 40ft and the beef dressing room 80ft by 60ft. Facilities for killing pigs are also included in the reconstructed portion of the building. Adjoining the slaughter rooms will be a dining room 98ft by 15ft. At the further end of the slaughter rooms the cooling room will be located, 280 ft in length by 41ft wide. A feature of the reconstruction work is the elimination of all wood. The building is being erected with steel girders and reinforced concrete, with pumice partition walls in the beef chilling rooms and an asbestos roof. This should considerably reduce the risk of fire. Most of the steel work is now in place and in another month’s time the magnitude of the undertaking will be more apparent. The reconstruction will bring this section of the works right up to the forefront as far as modern layout is concerned and the Waingawa Works will be among the most up-to-date in the Dominion. The work is being carried out by Messrs C. S. Tuney & Ci., of Christchurch.