A water tank — thought to have originated from the Dunedin gasworks — had been a fixture at the Blackhead Quarry longer than quarry manager Gavin Hartley’s 18-year tenure.
Ten years ago, it was no longer being used as a water tank and instead became semi-abandoned.
"Now, we’ve finally found a job for it," Mr Hartley said.
After beginning the renovation 18 months ago, they recently got the software needed to finish the job.
They cut holes in the tank, welded some feet to it, put in a line and some windows, added a door "and were away laughing".
Mr Hartley said the employee who now worked in the transformed tank loved it and was "smiling away".
"He plays the flute, so he can practise his fluting in the kiosk now ... he used to be in an office next to me ... he’s got a heat pump in there and he’s as happy as Larry."
While giving the employee a nice seaside space to practise his flute skills between customers was nice, ditching the weighbridge was the main driver of the tanker transformation.
"Most weighbridges in the country, you’d drive up next to the man and talk to him, whereas with our one, we talked through an intercom, which wasn’t ideal."
Now, they sell by scales and a loader.
"We complete the transaction in the quarry basically — it’s streamlined the whole operation really, for us and our customers."
The tank kiosk officially opened for business about three weeks ago.
