Pukehiki Church Restoration Summary
Below is a summary of the restoration project.
The restoration summary has also been compiled into a PDF that can be downloaded:
Pukehiki Church Restoration Summary
Or click here for a more extensive rundown of the restoration project.
Background (Pre-2020)
2007: The historic Pukehiki Church on Otago Peninsula looked to be in tidy condition, though the piles needed attention.
2008/09 Repiling works completed and drainage works undertaken
2014:
After a 5 year break to repay loans for the repiling and drainage works, a local builder was asked to repair a couple of weatherboards. This opened a can of worms!!
Alas everything was found to be in an overwhelming state of decay due to water ingress over a long period of time.
2020 - Stage 1 Restoration
After 6 years of planning and fund raising, work commenced on the staged restoration of the external fabric of the church, covering:
- restoration of the front Bell Tower,
- re-roofing of the church, and
- restoration of some ‘front’ walls and windows.
January / February 2020:
Stuart Robertson, with Graeme Carr and Tom Leckie, get stuck in! With scaffolding erected, the Bell Tower could be inspected. Again, deterioration and rotting timbers were found at every turn. The main support posts of the tower were badly riddled with borer and the windows and louvres badly decayed. The tower needed to be rebuilt.
Note the revelation of the original 1868 church frontage (untouched since then), as it was before the Bell Tower was added in 1884.
June 2020:
After a nearly 2-month Covid-19 break, work finally resumes on site, with a start on the roof replacement .
October 2020:
After 3-months’s restoration in Stuart Robertson’s workshop at Sandymount, restoration of the eight tower louvres, the two tower windows, the large southern window, and the four smaller Stage 1 windows, was finally complete. Work commenced back on site.
November 2020:
Work on the tower is progressing well, though recreating the original construction detailing by Walter Riddell 150 years ago is proving to be a very demanding and intricate process. While these details are being faithfully recreated, attention is being paid to long term weatherproofing, such as the fitting of fabricated stainless steel flashings (above).
May 2021 - and the start of Stage 2
By early May work has continued around the corner to the ‘Stage 2’ walls. New weather boards have been fitted and are looking good – BUT NOTE that all these weatherboards are only temporarily fitted. All are individually numbered as they now have to come off for end grain sealing and final fitting.
October 2021:
Work is now well advanced on the window restoration – you can never have too many clamps!
November 2021:
Supply shortages due to the latest Covid lockdowns (insulation, plywood, weatherboards, and laminated timber for the new studs) delayed this by close to two months, with work now expected to resume on site late November.
In the meantime work has progressed on the installation of the new water tank.
January 2022:
After a damp start to 2022, work once again resumes on the northern walls. The external meter box is readied for relocation inside, along with a new switchboard.
April – July 2022:
Progress continues, and by Easter, we have the installation of the final large window on the NW gable wall, and more weatherboards in place.
October – December 2022:
Finally, after close on 3 years solid work the exterior restoration is complete. The church looked stunning in the October snowfall.
… and the new paving has just finished everything off superbly, all ready for the Christmas Carol Service
2023 - Stage 3
February – March 2023:
After a pause over December/January, detailed planning for all the various Stage 3 works started in earnest. Further excavation under the church was undertaken to accommodate the new heat pump unit and associated large ducting.
April 2023:
The church is now full of scaffolding and Sims & Blue have a team of painters hard at work. One rafter is seriously riddled with borer and has to be replaced.
May 2023:
Work gets underway on restoration of the stone ‘dykes’, originally built by Robert Landreth, who built many of the local peninsula stone walls, including at Larnach Castle. Stonemasons, Steven Kilroy and Parry Jones, work their magic in the Pukehiki mist to restore the Pukehiki Church stone walls back to their original glory:
June 2023:
By late June, the interior painting is all but complete, the high-level lighting installed, and the two speakers for the sound system installed and tested. Time for the scaffolding to come down.
August 2023:
With the scaffolding down, the restored arches look wonderful against the new paintwork. Work now continues sanding and oiling the pews by Broad Bay local, Peter Henderson, helped by John Middleton and Steve Munro. This team has toiled hard on all painting tasks throughout the whole project.
Progress is being made on the new heat pump heating system – the underfloor ducting is substantial! The main heating unit is cunningly located under the hidden floor beneath the pulpit area.
September 2023:
Nearly there! Time for the finishing touches. A pity to cover Stuart’s craftsmanship on the gates in white paint, but necessary to match both the original 1880’s gate detail, and the gothic arch shape of the windows.
Stuart’s craftsmanship continues to the corner lampshades, also from Siberian Larch, requiring a 5-degree angle on the tongue-in-groove jointing to get the required conical shape. They are then stained to match the wainscotting timber below
