Huts set for spruce-up

Freeman Burn Hut. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
Freeman Burn Hut. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Old Top Forks Hut.
Old Top Forks Hut.
Thirty well-known back-country New Zealand huts, including the Freeman Burn Hut in Fiordland National Park and the Old Top Forks Hut in Mount Aspiring National Park near Wānaka will be restored by the Back Country Trust this summer.

Fletcher Building has entered a five-year partnership with the trust, a volunteer organisation focused on maintaining and preserving some of the country’s more well-known back-country huts and tracks.

The company will provide building materials at reduced cost and volunteers to help with the work.

Fletcher Building concrete division chief executive Thornton Williams said it was ingrained in the Kiwi way of life to explore the outdoors and through the partnership, it could play its part in making sure the huts remained accessible, safe and preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Rob Brown, national operations manager at the trust, said about 400,000 people per year used the facilities and maintaining them was essential.