Scaffolding reaching to the heavens has been erected at Timaru’s Sacred Heart Basilica as the iconic building undergoes repairs.
For the past two weeks contractors from Ashburtonbased Bradford Building Ltd have been scaling the basilica as they begin to re-copper the cupolas of the two bell towers as well as the centre dome after they suffered heavy damage in the November 2019 hailstorm.
Holy Family Timaru Catholic parish priest Fr Chris Friel said it was great to finally start the project.
‘‘Because it’s under the auspices of the insurance company, it’s just taken a bit of time.
‘‘Covid took two years out as well. Builders to do the work had to be found and that took a while but it’s now finally happening.’’
He could not wait to see the end product, he said.
‘‘It’s one of the focal points of the town, it’s an iconic building here and when the job is all done it is going to look incredible.’’
The basilica, which was designed by New Zealand architect Francis Petre and completed in 1911, has also undergone earthquake strengthening in recent years.
A representative from Bradford Building Ltd said it was a unique and challenging project for the company.
‘‘There’s a good degree of difficulty in it. It’s a big scaffolding job — we’re getting the bell towers done first and then we’ll move on [to] the main dome.
‘‘We’re looking to have it completed in around six months but it’s a bit unknown until the current copper is stripped off and we don’t know what the substrate is like. The architect is going to look at that next week.
‘‘It’s a pretty cool project to undertake and not like anything we’ve done before.’’
It took the company two weeks to set up the complex array of scaffolding to reach the cupolas — which sit about 35m high.
Fr Friel said they would still have access to the building while the work was completed.
‘‘We can still use the building during the whole process, which is great, but we’d like to stay away from it as much as possible to allow the workers to do their work.
‘‘Thankfully, we’ve got St Thomas’ at the other end of town we can also use.’’
Progress on the project can be followed on the Holy Family Timaru Catholic Parish Facebook page.
