Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.
Menu
HomeUpfront
Now Up
Books
Towns
Structures
People
Firms
Lexicon
Department of Inland Revenue
KuGompo City (East London), Eastern Cape
Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Department of Inland Revenue | ||
Click to view large map Coordinates: | DESIGN FOR NEW OFFICES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INLAND REVENUE AT EAST LONDON The Public Works Department has recently let a contract for the erection of a new office block to accommodate the Department of Inland Revenue in East London, to be erected on a site over 13,000 square feet [~1 200m²] in the centre of the City, bounded on the southern side by Terminus Street and on the eastern side by Station Street. The building will consist of a Basement, Ground, First, Second and Third floors and has been designed with the Main Entrance facing Terminus Street and a subsidiary entrance on Station Street. Special attention has been given in planning the building to eliminate the western aspect as far as was practicable with the particular requirements of the Department concerned. Although the Department of Inland Revenue will occupy the major portion of the accommodation to be provided, rooms will also be available for the Veterinary Branch of the Cape Eastern and Transkei Division of the Department of Agriculture. The Architectural Branch of the Public Works Department designed the building at an estimated cost of £90,000 and the building contract has recently been let to Messrs. De Kloe and Slingerland of Pretoria. Foundation Problem. Preliminary excavations on the site revealed the existence of extensive foundations of mass concrete, the origin of which is somewhat obscure, and the removal of those portions of the foundations which interfere with the work of construction on the new scheme is a major task which will require considerable time and energy. It is anticipated that sub-soil water will be encountered when the Basement has been excavated; consequently, a system of permanent agricultural drainage will be provided over the whole site and connected to an underground soakage sump with automatic pumps. Basement. The whole of the Basement area will be used for the filing of records and all rooms will be fitted with wall and island shelving from floor to ceiling for this purpose. Ground Floor. The layout of the upper floors is in the form of a hollow square with the main access from Terminus Street, leading directly to the Stair and Lift Hall and to the Main Cash Hall which occupies practically the entire frontage along Terminus Street. A subsidiary exit leading directly from the Main Cash Hall to Terminus Street will provide free circulation and will facilitate traffic flow in this Hall at peak periods. Tellers' cubicles are provided behind the main counter and from these direct contact is maintained with the Records staff operating the card system common to all branches of Inland Revenue, and contact is also maintained with the Accounts Branch in a similar manner to that adopted in an ordinary bank. The main Registry, Typists' Offices, etc., are conveniently placed on the northern side of the square, connected with a corridor giving access to the slate-paved Courtyard with central fountain, which provides a pleasing outlook from all the surrounding rooms. Leading directly off the right side of the Stair and Lift Hall is the public access to the Motor Licences Office, where a traffic flow can be provided when necessary by adopting a through-run to the Station Street entrance. On the western boundary an additional light court, defined by the Strong Room, Accounts Office and Service Stair, amplifies the lighting while cutting down the western outlook to the absolute minimum. First Floor. With the exception of the female staff Rest Room, the accommodation on this floor is given over entirely to offices for the Receiver of Revenue and Income Tax Assessors, who are directly accessible to the public. The female staff Rest Room has been placed on this floor, conveniently near the Service Stair, to provide easy access for the female staff on both the Ground and Second floors. Second Floor. This floor plan generally conforms to the layout for the First floor, with the added advantage of establishing free circulation by means of the main corridor now forming a full circle around the Central Court. The regularity of the wall spacing on this floor gives some indication of the "grid" upon which the plan is based, and the structure has been designed to allow of the erection or removal of cross partitions to enable rooms to be sub-divided as required to suit the future requirements of the occupants. Cross partitions are of the semi-permanent type with inter-communicating doors. The offices on this floor will be occupied by the general administrative staff, with the exception of the Board Room, which will be available to all Departments occupying the building, and will also be available by special arrangement to all other Government Departments in East London. Third Floor. The northern and eastern sides of the hollow square are projected up to form the third floor of the building. Accommodation on this level is almost identical to the lower floors, but special arrangements have been made to suit the particular requirements of the Veterinary Division. The Laboratories for the examination of "smears" collected throughout the district are specially fitted to accommodate the technical equipment for carrying out the work of the Division in a more up-to-date manner than hitherto, and provision has been made for the packing and despatch of serums produced by the Department of Agriculture for the benefit of the farming community of the district. Roof. Over the Lift shaft, at a level above the Third floor ceiling slab, is the Lift Machinery Room and Tank Room for the water reticulation. Access to these rooms is by a circular stair arranged directly off the Third floor corridor but cut off from public approach, and access to the roof over the Third floor offices is provided by a doorway leading off the Tank Room. All ceiling slabs are of reinforced concrete and the lean-to trusses over these slabs are to be covered with corrugated asbestos sheets. Finishings. The building will be a reinforced concrete-framed structure with brick in-filling, and the general external finishings will provide a polished red granite-faced plinth to the height of the Ground floor window-sills on both street fronts, with a harmonising precast stone facing to a similar height on all other external walls. Above this level on the street fronts the finish will be brindle face brickwork in a selected tone with special rebated dark brindle bricks forming a deep colour contrast on the main facade to Terminus Street. The street entrances will be faced with freestone dressing and similar stone architraves will surround the large windows to the Main Cash Hall and other Ground floor windows. Attractive wrought-iron yard gates and grilles to Basement windows will carry a theme of design specially suited to East London, and this theme will be reflected in the ironwork employed on certain internal decoration. Internally, the floors and walls of the Entrance Hall, Stair and Lift Hall and the Main Cash Hall will be lined with South African marble to the full height of these rooms, and the ceilings are to be acoustically treated for sound absorption. Special lighting effects will be introduced in all public spaces. The counter and cubicles in the Main Cash Hall, and the light fittings over the public writing slopes are to be finished in bronze, and mural decorations will be provided in specially arranged wall panels in the public space. The Board Room, on the second floor, is to be finished with specially selected South African wood block flooring and wall panelling, whilst the ceiling will be acoustically treated in a similar manner to that specified for the main Ground floor rooms. Offices generally will have wood block flooring and the walls will be finished with hardwall plaster. Doors generally are to be the solid laminated flush-panel type. A special feature of particular interest in this design will bring the method evolved by the Public Works Department, and used for the first time in this service, of a completely concealed telephone circuit throughout the building. The main telephone cable will enter the Basement through a 3-inch [75mm] steel pipe leading to a Cable Chamber situated under the Main Entrance, and here the main cable will be divided into two feeder cables, one of which will be carried up a specially designed vertical duct rising directly from the Cable Chamber to serve each floor of the building on the southern and eastern sides; the other feeder cable will be drawn through a subsidiary pipe, cast in concrete, immediately below the Ground Floor slab, and by means of an easy bend, will reach a second vertical duct at the diagonal corner of the Courtyard, and will be carried up this duct to serve the northern and western sides of the building. At each floor slab level, a removable panel in the duct will provide access to the feeder cables to allow for tapping off the necessary number of lines required for telephone connections on each floor. These connections will then be threaded through 3/4-inch [20mm] bore conduit, cast in the concrete floor slabs and fanning out from the vertical ducts in all directions, and rising to the surface at the junction of external wall and each alternate cross partition, from where the required lines are led along behind a hollow skirting, which is removable on three sides of each room, to provide a direct connection to the telephone in the most convenient position to suit the occupant of any particular office. Any desired change in the telephone position can be simply and quickly accomplished by adjusting the lines behind the removable skirting. Preliminary site work has already been put in hand by the Contractors, and it is anticipated that the building will be available for occupation early in 1950. (PWSA September 1948 Vol IX No 58:22-26). |
|
