The seafood company would take down the Normanby wharf shed, next to Portside Restaurant and the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, and replace it with two chilled shipping containers, Sanford’s Timaru Site Manager Grant Day said.
The shipping containers would be painted white with Sanford’s blue logo and be used to temporarily store fish.
Three Oamaru-based fishermen supplied Sanford — and stored fish in a chiller next to the shed at present — the catch, typically blue cod and gurnard, was kept chilled locally before being taken to Timaru to be processed and distributed.
While the Oamaru Harbour shed was used as a crayfish processing site "years ago", it was unused and had stood empty since.
"The building contains asbestos and it could eventually become hazardous to leave it in its current state," Mr Day said.
The company would get "specialist asbestos removers in to do that part of the work".
A company statement this week said the site was "in need of a clean-up" and the containers would be "dressed up with some timber plant boxes to give the area a lift".
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he was aware the company had discussed options with the Waitaki District Council’s property team.
The planned landscaping would "soften" the look, he said, and showed the company was sympathetic to the aesthetics of the harbour area, which was appreciated.
"The reality is that they [Sanford] are not going to be there forever," Mr Kircher said.
"Their lease has a timeframe on it, which means there could be change sometime in the medium future — and obviously containers are easy to move if and when that happens."
The work was scheduled to start on May 29 and was expected to be complete by June 19, Mr Day said.
