The Harold Krantz Legacy

When Harold undertook his training as a young man he was taught that architecture was a combination of art and science. A building should be structurally sound, beautiful-looking and money should be no object. After his Poster Studios experience during the depression era in Perth Harold realised that building projects posed an economic problem. His focus on the three dimensions of economy, structure and appearance created a driving personal philosophy which led to career success and longevity.

Harold was an intuitive administrator who recognised his own shortcomings. To this end, Krantz and Sheldon operated a ‘combination’ business. Harold surrounded himself with a talented, multi-faceted team with in-house engineers, model-makers, quantity surveyors and plumbing and electrical consultants. The company became the book-keeper, property manager and developer. It was an unorthodox, innovative and unique practice and at their zenith between 1964 and 1968, the company employed around 100 people.

One of Harold’s time and money-saving innovations was to make a factory of the site and prefabricate building materials on site. In this way alternative fabrication site costs were eliminated and with a climate conducive to outdoor work it was a highly effective way of reducing costs. A further revolutionary idea was introduced with slip-form construction. Harold believed they were the first company in Australia to construct buildings in slip-form in entirety. Using this method where the core of the building went up very quickly meant that projects could be completed in far less time with considerable savings. This construction method also enabled continuity of employment for the various tradespeople. They could move from one floor to the next and continue working rather than being interrupted by other trades and having to return at a later time. This saved a great deal of time, further enabling costs to be minimised.

Harold believed that ‘Time’ was the only element in a building that you paid for three times over.

With this in mind Harold always sought to reduce the time it took to construct a building believing that a year or less was optimal. The longer it took to build the more you stood to lose in financial terms. By taking longer to build, the use of the building or the potential income from renting out the completed building was lost. A prolonged build time also meant increased bridging finance costs. To Harold, choosing the appropriate method and techniques of construction meant selecting the method that would allow a project to reach completion in the shortest possible time.