Partner sought to redevelop Dunedin priory site

That might involve a mixed-use approach combining retail areas to provide self-sustaining rental income for ongoing maintenance, alongside wellness hubs, rather than a straightforward sale to developers for private apartments.

Diocese volunteer Sean Toomey led tours through the Category 1 historic place on October 10 during Dunedin Heritage Weekend.

“If you turn it into luxury apartments, you’ve totally lost control of it, and very few people with an awful lot of money get to be in there,” Mr Toomey said, referring to future redevelopment possibilities.

Contractors completed an $885,000 roofing and seismic strengthening project in 2018 to save the structure from ruin. The original slate roof had failed, and water was tracking down through three storeys.

Advice from Dr Glen Hazleton, who is now the Dunedin City Council city development manager, helped secure Welsh blue-grey slate from the quarry that supplied the original tiles to replace the roof to its exact 1877 specifications.

Four years ago, the Dunedin Heritage Fund provided $60,000 to save a prominent stained-glass window. Oamaru stone mullions had cracked and broken, leaving the heavy glass unsupported.

“The window was sagging and hanging out, and it was at high risk of collapsing,” Mr Toomey said.

There are effectively two separate buildings within the one structure at the site. Construction workers completed a convent in 1877 and finished a college in 1890.

FULL STORY

A masterpiece of early engineering holds the quiet history of cloistered lives (By Sam Henderson/The Star/Otago Daily Times)