Dunedin residents will celebrate the built history of their city and the people behind the bricks and mortar next month.

The Dunedin Heritage Weekend runs from October 9 to 11 and offers a programme of building tours, historical presentations and harbour excursions.

Southern Heritage Trust chairwoman Joy Baker said the event was designed to help residents connect with their hometown.

“It’s keeping heritage alive for our local people,” Mrs Baker said.

“It’s giving them an opportunity to get into places or hear stories they haven’t heard before.”

The festival opens with Heritage Bytes, an evening of fast-paced talks at the Otago Art Society featuring 11 speakers.

Port to Port ferry operator Rachel McGregor will speak about her maritime career.

Mrs Baker said the address would highlight the challenges of becoming a female captain.

“What she went through, you know, the male dominated area of sea captains,” she said.

“Going through the hard yards to get there.”

The schedule includes a Steampunk High Tea at the Dunedin Gasworks Museum to mark the 100th birthday of the Bryan Donkin Booster engine.

Mrs Baker said the gasworks remained a very important building for the city.

“A lot of people will go in there for an occasion like this, and they’ll say, oh, my gosh, I’ve never been in here before,” she said.

“And that’s what we love. We love people coming in and saying, wow, I never knew that.”

Other attractions include the vintage-themed Dunedin Tweed Ride, walking tours exploring the darker history of the city and a cruise to explore stories of shipwrecks, whaling and sealing.

Participants can also view the repurposed Standard Building on Princes St to see how commercial preservation can succeed.

“You can go in there and it’s magnificent, but you still see the blasts of the past,” Mrs Baker said.

“It’s really keeping heritage and history and our stories alive.”