The Heritage NZ category 1 listed building — one of the most significant World War 1 memorials in the country — was secured when the hall was sold by the school’s board to the Ministry of Education in 2023.
Waitaki Boys’ principal Darryl Paterson said the $2.5m refit began in earnest about eight weeks ago, after the school held its opening assemblies for 2025.
Mr Paterson said the building would be reroofed and further seismic strengthening would bring it up to code, following major work for that in the 1990s.
It would include significant work to restore the Oamaru stone fabric and the building is now clothed in significant scaffolding for that.
Many of the building’s historic multi-panel stained glass windows will undergo full restoration in Christchurch.
As an Waitaki BHS old boy, Mr Paterson said this week that entering the stripped-out building for the first time since work began left him feeling a little bereft.
"It’s surreal: I have never seen it without the historic stained glass there."
Significant stormwater repairs to the building are also under way — particularly at the eastern end where the organ gallery had previously suffered a lot of water damage.
The hall’s historic organ was removed late last year ahead of the overarching hall project.
Mr Paterson said the organ restoration is a longer-term project.
But the school plans to be back in the hall in time for its annual prizegiving in October.
"It’s progressing well. [The contractors] have indicated an end-of-September finish."
About 700 Waitaki Boys’ High School old boys served during World War 1.
Of those, 119 lost their lives.
The foundation stone for the John Megget Forrester-designed Hall of Memories was laid in 1923 and formally dedicated in March 1927 by the then Duke of York, later King George VI.
