He said the boom started after Covid-19, and since then there had been a “phenomenal” amount of work. “We’re doing a lot of stuff up in Fairlie, Twizel with new builds for farmers and renos (renovations) as well; it’s not just one thing in particular. “I’ve never seen it so busy. Guys have got a years’ work ahead of them, easily.” Richard Phiskie, owner of Dimenson Building in Timaru, agreed it was extremely busy and said his company also had a whole range of work lined up. “It’s everything from new homes right through. We work in Timaru, Twizel and Otematata.”
As it has been classed by the district council as a priority building, the deadline to completeseismic work is 2033. Blakemore said while she was not surprised by the initial assessment result, she was now in limbo as to what to do next. “Based on early assesments the costs for the work will be in the hundreds of thousands and possibly in the millions, but I hope that by the time I get to actually doing further assesments, the technology for strengthening would make it cheaper. “The costs of strengthening are prohibitive, and there re all sorts of practicalities I have to go through,” she said.