Dunedin's historic railway station is set to have a deck built at its northern end and a Cobb & Co restaurant opened by June.
Dunedin heritage developer and Zeal Steel owner Lawrie Forbes is to provide the steel work for the deck.
An independent commissioner yesterday gave the go-ahead for the developers of the restaurant to build the deck, after a hearing last week.
That followed opposition to the plan through submissions to the hearing and letters to the editor of the Otago Daily Times.
Opponents objected to the deck being added to the much-photographed historic building, and its extension on to a public park.
The Dunedin City Council received more than 60 public submissions on Cobb&Co Dunedin’s plans for a 150sqm deck.
Three-quarters of the submissions received opposed the plan.
A hearing on the issue last week followed confirmation late last year a group of Dunedin business people had signed a lease with the Dunedin City Council to progress the restaurant development.
The deck had already been granted resource and building consent, but required a public hearing as it would occupy public land.
In his decision, commissioner Gary Rae said the area where the deck would be built had "at best only occasional use", and the project would encourage greater use of the space.
The deck would occupy only 150sqm of open space, and "much of the existing grassed and treed area will remain for occasional public use".
Cobb&Co Dunedin general manager Ange Copson said she was "delighted".
"It’s nice to have Cobb back on track again. It’s been a long process but good things take time."
Mrs Copson said she had called her project managers after hearing of the decision, and building would start in the next two to three weeks.The project would take about three months.
"All things considered, we should be open about June."
Everything was in place to begin, including building and resource consents. Mrs Copson said she had "taken on board" what Heritage New Zealand Otago-Southland area manager Jonathan Howard had asked to be done in terms of aesthetics.
Mr Howard had worked with Mr Forbes on other heritage projects and it was "nice to have them on the same page".
To those who had opposed the project, and in particular the deck, she said the developers understood their concerns about the building’s aesthetics.
"We’ve tried to manage that in a very respectful way. We want people to enjoy the space, we want the people of Dunedin to come to the station and be part of it."
The deck would not be attached to the building, and would be removable if necessary at a later date.
Mr Forbes said he was working on a boiler-style design for a fire for the deck, which had been done in consultation with Heritage New Zealand and former Dunedin City Council heritage policy planner Glen Hazelton.
It was "a work in progress".
"It’s a very good fit," he said of the deck design.
He said he felt "sorry for the people that jumped up and down initially" because the project had been presented to the people of Dunedin with "the diplomacy of a Donald Trump press release".
Dunedin historian and Otago Daily Times columnist Peter Entwisle described the decision as "a pity".
"There’s been a clear view of that part of the building, since the building was completed. This gets in the way of it."
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Comments
If the sketch is anything to go by this is going to look awful. For a city that prides itself on our history and architecture this is a crime. Do we really need another outside eating venue when the Octagon is clogged with tables and chairs as it is.
The Valentines neon nightmare was bad enough. I for one will be boycotting Cobb & Co as a protest against this.
Congratulations to everyone involved in seeing to a good design outcome for the Cobb & Co restaurant at Dunedin's historic railway station. The addition of the proposed 150sqm deck at the northern end of the building will add dynamics to what I hope will be a long and successful tenancy in one of the city's most impressive and easily accessible heritage precincts.