Seismic strengthening work at St Mary's Anglican Church in Waipukurau is progressing well, according to congregation members, who are hopeful the earthquake-prone building will be open to worshippers again in a matter of months.
Strengthening work started in April on the 1929-built church, which has been closed since Easter in 2014 after it was rated at just 13 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS).
Alan Sutherland, spokesman for the local subcommittee tasked with strengthening the church, hoped the work to bring it up to the minimum rating of 34 per cent would be completed in time for the church to reopen by August.
"The contractor, Jacob's Construction, has been busy under the church working on stage one [of the project], firstly installing reinforcing steel and a new concrete foundation to support the shear walls. This will be followed shortly with reinforcing of the upper walls and tower parapet," Sutherland said.
Most of the remaining steel work for stage one had already been prefabricated and was due to be on site by last week, he said.