Sept finish date for courthouse
COURT could be back in session at Oamaru’s historic courthouse in September.
The 1883 Thames St courthouse was closed in late 2011 after being classed as earthquakeprone, which resulted in court services being relocated to the nearby Oamaru Opera House and then to a portable facility known as the ’’portacourt’’ in Humber St in 2014.
After a short delay as a result of poor weather, scaffolding was erected around the building in late February before it was cloaked in white plastic wrap to make it weatherproof and to reduce dust and noise.
Waitaki District Council property manager Renee Julius said while strengthening work had been completed, further exterior and interior work was required.
‘‘We have put all the strengthening work in place. That consisted of [steel] rods going through the building. We have painted most of the exterior and we are about to install anchor points on the roof and we have recontoured the guttering and replaced the roof.
‘‘With the stonecleaning, we had to wait until the roofs were back on . . . we have started on the parts we can, but additional work will need to be done once the scaffolding comes down.’’
She said the layout of the courthouse would be different when it reopened.
The car park would also be redeveloped so surface water would drain away from the building instead of towards it.
While Mrs Julius would not disclose the cost of the work, she said it was ‘‘on track’’ to be completed under the council’s $900,000 budget, funded through its endowment fund.
After long negotiations, an agreement was reached between the council and the Ministry of Justice in 2016 that resulted in the council taking ownership of the building and agreeing to lease it back to the ministry so it could once again serve as the Oamaru District Court.
In February, Ministry of Justice commercial and property general manager Fraser Gibbs told the Otago Daily Times the ministry was ‘‘delighted’’ earthquakestrengthening work was under way.
The technology being used at the temporary courthouse would be installed in the Thames St building, he said.