First look at Hillside office refurbishment

Site manager Bob Macklin, of Naylor Love, gives Southern Heritage Trust chairwoman Joy Baker a tour of the refurbishment work that has been done to date on the former Hillside Workshops manager’s office.

The historic building was saved from demolition by the Southern Heritage Trust, which aims to transform the facility into a tenanted office and meeting space for South Dunedin community groups and charitable trusts.

The refurbishment is expected to take about a year and a-half to complete, and to cost up to $1 million.

The two-storey building, believed to date back to the 1920s, was surplus to requirements and was sold by KiwiRail to the trust for $1.