If anyone has any unwanted blocks of stone lying around, Stewart Harvey would be keen to take them off your hands.
But Mr Harvey and other members of the Dunedin Prison Charitable Trust have specific requirements: they are looking for large rectangular blocks of the rough, grey Port Chalmers breccia stone widely used in the late 1800s and early 1900s in many Dunedin walls and building foundations.
The trust, which bought the 116-year-old Dunedin Prison in June, had engaged Dunedin stonemason Marcus Wainwright to reinstate about 35m of the low wall on the Castle St frontage, Mr Harvey said this week.
But before Mr Wainwright could begin his work, the trust required stone, Mr Harvey said.
"We're hoping people who might be demolishing buildings or have a large stock of it will donate it to us. If they tell us where the stone is, we can uplift it."
When completed, the wall would look similar to that of its neighbour, the Dunedin Law Courts, he said.
The trust also hoped to reinstate the iron railings atop the prison wall and the cast iron gates and gate posts which stood outside the main entrance.
The trust has ambitious plans to redevelop the prison into a cafe, office areas, function areas and a "prison experience" tour.
In June, it said $2.6 million was needed for stage one.
Fundraising was "going slowly", Mr Harvey said this week, and it could be two or three years before the redevelopment began in earnest.
In the meantime, volunteers were busy cleaning, demossing and waterproofing the building, he said.
