Oamaru's landmark 1883 Thames St courthouse will remain under wraps, undergoing strengthening work, for the next six months. Local lawyers are "gagging to get in".
Oamaru lawyer Bill Dean first appeared in the historic courthouse in 1984 - and he led the charge to ensure court services stayed in Oamaru after the building was closed seven years ago and multimillion-dollar Ministry of Justice estimates for required earthquake-strengthening appeared to put reopening the building out of reach.
"The implication was [those initial estimates] what the government of the day would rely on and they would use that and say, ‘Well, we clearly can’t do anything.’ And it was important to this community, and to me particularly, that they don’t get away with that," Mr Dean said.
"I’ve got two young lawyers at the office who have been with me for probably five or six years and haven’t been in this building, and are just aching to get in here."
In 2016, the Waitaki District Council took possession of the building and negotiated a deal to lease it back to the ministry for court services.
Council property manager Renee Julius said the $900,000 upgrade was a "number one priority".
Project manager Michael Forgie said from February crews spent five weeks erecting the steel scaffolding, installed a steel bracing frame inside, and were now starting to bring steelwork in to install in the roof.
