are finished with sound deadening modern linoleum or asphalt tiling, both of which materials are pleasing in appearance and easy to maintain. The walls of lavatories are lined with white glazed tiles, and the divisions between the W. C. com- partments are in white marble and the floors are tiled; the doors are of steel.
Bronze windows give adequate daylight to the Banking Hall and all other windows are of steel with bronze fittings of heavy sections, and all doors throughout the building of metal construction.
The only wood used in the building are the parquet floors in the Welfare Centre and Flats, and Flats, and panelling in the Managers' Offices.
Six high speed Lifts of 700 feet per minute efficiently serve all floors.
One outstanding feature pertaining to the four passenger lifts is that their movements can be directed by a "Starter" stationed at the main entrance to the offices, in this case the lower ground. A signal panel indicates to him the position and direction of movement of all lifts and shows calls registered at the upper floors. The control panel enables him to signal each attendant and so control the scheduling of the various elevators for varying flow of traffic. This novel feature is the first of its kind installed in the Colony. The fifth High Speed Gearless Machine serves only the lower ground floor, the ground, mezzanine and first floor pertaining to the main banking chamber, the welfare hall and the flats at the top floors, namely; 12th and 13th floor level. The speed of the lift is 700 f.p.m. and travels non- stop from the first to the 12th floor level, and is for the private use of the Bank, and enables them to travel from ground floor to 12th floor in about 18 seconds.
When this lift is operating as an automatic lift, i.e.. non-attendant, passengers cannot enter into the
main banking chamber by means of the hall entrances at the ground, mezzanine and first floor as stops at these entrances are controlled by a special interlocking electric key device so preventing unauthorized persons from entering or leaving the elevators at these floors.
In the original design, there was to be a basement floor, built some 13'-0" below the Queen's Road level under the central tower area only, but this was subsequently altered to
cover the area of the whole site to provide parking space for motor cars. This area will now accommodate This area will now accommodate approximately 28 cars, and turntables have been provided to facilitate quick access and egress.
The Lower Ground Floor, Upper Ground Floor, Mezzanine and First Floor will be occupied by the Bank and have a total floor area of 35,200 sq. ft. The 2nd to 13th Floors inclusive, are designed for office space which can be divided up to suit the requirements of tenants and total in area 76,000 sq. ft. The 14th Floor has been planned for the
Welfare, Bank's
consisting of Lounge. Dining Room and Library with the necessary ancillary rooms such as Kitchens, Pantries & Cold Storage space and has an area of 5,300 sq. ft. In the Tower, 2 Flats have been provided for Officials of the Bank also a Caretaker's Flat.
The building is air-conditioned and heated throughout and all elec- tric cables and wiring are hidden from view as they are run in pipes concealed in the walls and floors.
In the erection of the building it
was
necessary to excavate some
25,000 tons of earth and boulders whilst the frame has:--
351 2,650
900
1-1/4
Bearing piles.
Tons of Structural Steel, assembled with over 67,000 field rivets. Tons of Reinforcing Steel, with 15,000 cu.yds. of
concrete.
Million bricks. The interior has some 20,000 ft. run of soil and waste pipes with W.C's., 66 urinal stalls, 136 lavatory about 4,400 fittings, for the 162
basins and 32 sinks.
To provide the necessary water for drinking, flushing and fire fight ing, tanks have been installed in the Tower and 11 electric pumps have been provided in the Basement to supply the tanks. A stand by pump has been provided in each case. To ensure immediate operation of the fire fighting supply, a push button control has been installed on each floor enabling this pump to be put in operation from any floor should a fire occur.
There are over 770 lighting points, 334 lighting sockets and 104 power sockets which will provide adequate lighting to the offices and enable tenants to instal desk or other lamps. The 65 miles of electric cable are concealed in 21 miles of conduit.
The lighting to the Banking Hall
9 -
is of three main features, "egg-crate' fluorescent lamp panel fittings giving shadowless lighting, concealed light- ing for the mosaic ceiling panels and general decorative fittings.
Attractive simplicity is the key note of the design of the egg-crate panels, the main feature being the non-visibility of the tubes from the public spaces and the even and sub- dued lighting effect. The largest of the egg-crate panels is 12' square and a total of 310 fluorescent tubes have been used in these fittings and the cornice lighting.
A telephone grid system has been installed in all floors with adequate outlets on each floor so that oc- cupants can have their telephones fitted with the minimum of trouble, and no unsightly wires running
across the floors.
All pipes and cables are run in ducts and are easily accessible for examination and repairs.
The waterproofing of the found- ations and basement was of especial interest and consisted of Tanking work carried out by William Jacks & Co, Ltd., in a composite asphalt and heavy felt membrane to a total thickness of 5/8". It was started in December 1949 with one section of the spade-finished concrete sub-base floor on the north side. The work over this section was quite straight forward despite interruptions caused by occasional rain at the early stage and working against a considerable amount of water pressure on the east side. The employment of double strength waterproofing com- pound was taken by the general contractors as a preliminary measure to make the concrete rapid hardening as well as to seal bursts under pres- sure on several occasions. As the
work progressed towards the south side, greater water pressure was experienced, but was overcome by the Tanking Contractor without delaying the other constructional work. The lining of the retaining walls had to be done under difficult and cramped conditions as the space between the sheetpiling system and the abrupt column base was no more than 14” in width.
The waterproofing to all the main roofs, balconies, and canopies, was carried out in "Trinasco" Mastic Asphalt to a thickness of 3/4". On the main roofs the general contract- ors laid 1" thick Canton tiles cemented on to the Mastic Asphalt with a further layer of five-legged insulation tiles on top.
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