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The 88-year history of firefighting from Dunedin's central fire station may be coming to a close.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has confirmed it is undertaking a review of its tenure at the building, which has a Heritage NZ listing as a category 2 historic place.
Responding to Otago Daily Times questions, a Fenz spokeswoman said: ''Due to planned future changes around the area of our Dunedin central station, we are reviewing the site and its suitability for our long-term needs.''
The new Dunedin Hospital is to be built across the road from the station, and considerable roading changes are planned.
Any move from the building designed by Mandeno and Fraser, built in 1930 and occupied in 1931, would not be immediate, however.
''We are committed to operating out of the Castle St site in the short to medium term,'' the spokeswoman said.
Fenz regularly reviewed its operational facilities, to ensure it had the right resources in the right places to continue to keep people safe, she said.
The review was an ongoing process without a specific timeline.
It was being conducted jointly between local management and the strategy and capability branch at Fenz's national headquarters.
Heritage NZ Otago Southland area manager Denise Anderson said the evolution of technology and rapid response requirements within Fenz might mean the building did not fit its purpose in the long term.
''Adaptive reuse of buildings happens all over the country and can add another chapter to the rich heritage and history of a place if the reuse is undertaken sympathetically.''
She said Heritage NZ would ''absolutely'' like to be involved in the review.
''We would be delighted to be able to offer guidance on future options for the building.''
Other changes could also be on the way in the block bounded by Castle, Hanover, Leith and St Andrew Sts.
The Energy Centre in Castle St is not expected to be needed as a new district energy scheme is developed.
The land on which it sits, next to the fire station land, is owned by the Southern District Health Board.
An SDHB spokeswoman said there were no plans yet for that site.
There were also no plans to extend its land holdings to include the fire station site.
The land the fire station was on was not factored into the site master plan for the new Dunedin hospital.