THE NEW UNION BUILDINGS. 155 



To record the amount of mental labour on the part of the 

 architect, and of his staff, and also the ofllicials of the Public 

 Works Department associated with the scheme, is impossible. 

 But a crude idea of the extent of their work may be gleaned from 

 the extent of the drawings and allied documents upon which 

 the tenders for the work were based. (And from these there may 

 be also realised something of what the preparation of a tender 

 for a large building means to a contractor.) 



As two of the blocks are practically identical, and form one 

 contract, they can be taken as a whole, though various points 

 (and the desire for separate tenders) meant considerable addi- 

 tional work. For each of these blocks there are thirty-five large 

 sheets of drawings, a specification of some seventy foolscap 

 pages of printed matter, and a bill of quantities containing over 

 2,600 items set out in 133 similar-sized pages. 



For the central block a separate specification and a set of 

 drawings of fully equal magnitude, and involving numerous points 

 peculiar to itself, were prepared ; and also a bill of quantities that 

 ran into over 2,000 items. 



During the progress of the foregoing documents, and the 

 preparing of tenders, the Government accomplished a consider- 

 able amount of earthwork, or rather principally rockwork, in the 

 way of the formation of a definite plateau for building operations, 

 roadways, and protection from storm-water. 



Following upon this the tenders of Mr. M. C. A. Meischke 

 were accepted for the eastern and western blocks of ;£3io,50o and 

 ;^3i2,ooo respectively, and that of Messrs. Prentice and Mackie 

 for the central block at ;£256,224, making contracts that total 

 ;(;878,5oo. 



The contractors have now for some months been in posses- 

 sion of the site ; and plant, temporary structures, shedding and 

 materials, in conjunction with roads, tram lines, electrical power 

 and native compounds, are asserting themselves ; while arrange- 

 ments are in full swing for the supply and manufacture of the 

 vast quantities of material that will be required. It is esti- 

 mated that close on ;^4o,ooo will be expended on plant alone. The 

 enormous masses of concrete now being deposited in foundations 

 will absorb some 200 tons of steel and iron-work ; while for floors, 

 columns, piers, girders, arches, ceilings, vaulting and staircases 

 about 36,000 square yards of steel reinforcement are required. 

 For stancheons, joisting, and bars the rolling mills of the world 

 will be called upon for nearly 600 tons. Necessarily, the whole 

 of this metal-work will have to come from the Older World ; and 

 to the forests of Europe and America we must look for most of 

 the timber, and to the Mediterranean basin for the decorative 

 marble (though some South African marble is included) ; yet, to 

 a fuller extent than ever before in South African history of a 

 single structure, material from within its own British borders will 

 be demanded. Some indications in figures I have already given, 

 for instance, that nearly 4 acres of roof tiling are to be so forth- 

 coming. The Union territory is also called upon for the manu- 



