The foundations presented many difficulties, owing to the nature of the soil in Shanghai. The loads in the treasuries will be variable; when full of silver the weight will be very great, but at times there may be only small quantities of silver stored. The weight of the central dome is also great. To provide against movement below these concentrated loads, piles 40 ft. long were driven, and to equalize the pressure on the soil as far as possible the remainder of the site has also been piled but with wider spacing between the piles. The foundations consist of a reinforced concrete raft, spreading the weight over the whole site. The main beams of this raft are 7 ft. deep.
The spans of many of the steel girders in the building are greater than commonly used in Shanghai, some of them being 52 ft. long. The superstructure is of step] frame construction with reinforced concrete floor slabs. The whole of the steel will be encased in brick work or concrete for protection against fire.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.