When announcing the recent closure of its 23-year-old manufacturing plant in Mosgiel with the loss of 430 jobs, the whiteware maker said it would retain and relocate about 100 product and development staff to a "design centre of excellence" in Dunedin, plus about 50 staff for a new international call centre.
A copy of the floor plan of Appliances' first-floor premises was leaked to the Otago Daily Times, and some staff, who asked not to be identified, questioned whether the fit-out was industrial in nature and in contravention of the existing commercial/retail resource consent requirements.
Appliances began moving lathes, a milling machine and other equipment into Wall Street yesterday morning.
Appliances' New Zealand chief executive Malcolm Harris said, when contacted, the company had leased premises elsewhere around Dunedin for any significant industrial work, such as the need to test for noise or to "destroy" a machine.
Only small parts would be made on the equipment delivered yesterday.
"We intend to stay within the parameters of the leasing arrangements we have," Mr Harris said.
Council manager of city property, Robert Clark, said the engineering workshop was for prototype use, "not significant industrial", and could be operated under the existing commercial/retail consent.
"We have had an undertaking from Fisher and Paykel that anything large-scale, construed as significant industrial use, would be taken off-site," Mr Clark said.
All other tenants in Wall Street had been advised of Appliances' fit-out plans "and there has not been a single complaint lodged", he said.
The plan shows an acoustic laboratory, cooking evaluation areas and "wet bays" for testing.
Mr Clark said the testing of dishwashers was considered low-level noise and, as in a restaurant, any cooking smells would be extracted.
On the potential for water leaking from a wet bay, Mr Clark said the first floor was built as a car park and water issues were catered for, as it had the capacity to cope with snow-melt runoff.
The full complement of Dunedin product and development staff is awaiting the outcome of a new worldwide redundancy that will affect 50 staff, including possibly 8-10 in Dunedin.
