Heritage Restoration
Zeal Steel’s involvement in heritage restoration dates back to the early 2000s, when the entranceway to Knox Church and the gates to First Church were reconfigured. Lawrie has often worked closely with Heritage New Zealand and conservation architects, and he has learnt that minimal intervention is often preferable so that the reversal of repairs remains possible. Zeal Steel’s preferred method of repairing cast iron fractures is bronze welding due to its suitability for ornamental works. Lawrie’s current heritage restoration project is the Athenaeum in the Octagon.
Award-Winning 43 Crawford Street
Originally constructed in 1882 as the Mackerras and Hazlett Building, 43 Crawford Street was considered one of the most at-risk heritage buildings for demolition in 2015. Lawrie purchased the building in 2016 and began assessing what he could save, what needed replacing and what could be re-purposed. In 2017 WorkSafe became the anchor tenant for the building, with their office on the second floor. In 2019, Recovery Room Physio moved to the first floor. Both tenancies and common areas were winners at the DCC 2020 Heritage Awards, winning the Otago Polytechnic School of Design Interior Architecture award. The building also won the top prize of the DCC Outstanding Re-Use award and in the year previous won the Oakwood Properties earthquake strengthening award for innovation.
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St. Patrick's Community Centre
Steel-framed window restoration or manufacturing was never originally a part of Zeal Steel’s orientation as the profiles used in such fabrications were not generally available in New Zealand through steel suppliers. However, this changed in 2012, when Zeal Steel was asked to price the restoration of steel framed windows at St. Patrick's Community Centre. Zeal Steel then took over the project when it was found that the windows were beyond repair and needed replacing instead.
Iona Church Clockfaces
In 2013, Zeal Steel refurbished four cast iron clock faces at Iona Church in Port Chalmers. Working closely with a conservation architect, Lawrie had to determine how each of the clockfaces could come apart. They were then taken to be coated and repaired using bronze welding. They were then reinstalled along with replacement glazed faces.
