Like others undertaking major building projects in the city they are waiting for a structural engineer.
Kevin and Lucia Rogers, who have owned the Every St property since January last year, have Dunedin City Council resource consent to create nine self-contained maisonettes in the 73-year-old building.
Each apartment will have its own exterior entrance and tenants will have use of communal spaces including a television room, hobby room and laundry.
Two bedrooms will be available for tenants to book for overflow guests.
Mr Rogers said yesterday this week they were in the process of applying for building consent so they could begin construction, but before they could do that needed a structural engineer to assess the building's strength.
"A report is required because we are changing the building's use. But as everyone knows, structural engineers are in great demand because of the Christchurch earthquakes."
The building would have to meet 67% of new building standards. If it did not, some internal strengthening would be required, he said.
The resource consent gives the Rogers permission to create five apartments on the ground floor and two apartments, a caretaker's flat and a flat for the Rogers on the upper floor.
Granting the consent, council planner Karen Bain said the 3521sq m site was 22% smaller than the council's district plan allowed for nine residential units. However, no extension of services would be required for the expected 20 residents on site and she considered the effects of the development to be no more than minor.
New entrances and balconies to be constructed in the building's exterior walls were also considered minor alterations, she said.
A condition of the consent was that the Rogers landscape the grounds and create 10 on-site car parks.
Opened in 1939, the hospital was run by the Plunket Society and cared for newborn babies and their mothers as well as training Karitane nurses. It closed in 1979 and has been operated since by several owners as a bed and breakfast, a rest-home and, most recently, a backpackers' lodge.
Mr Rogers said it was hoped construction would begin within two months and take about a year. In the meantime, he and his wife were continuing to clean and tidy the building and grounds and return the building's exterior to as close to its original state as possible.
The Rogers were told Queen Elizabeth II had opened the building, but that was incorrect.
However, they discovered she visited the hospital in 1954 and had viewed film of the occasion held by the New Zealand Film Archive.
It was in colour, and showed the exterior of the building was cream with brown detailing and window frames - a colour scheme they planned to recreate.
