The complexity of Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui redevelopment

Working on the Oamaru stone cladding of the Sarjeant Gallery was a dream job for its lead stonemason, Whanganui-born Mark Whyte.

"The building's in great condition. You know, there's a few cracks from settlement, ground settlement, and a few cracks up the east elevation.

"But now, of course, that's all earthquake-strengthened from the inside and we're just patching the stone on the outside.

"Well, we're not actually patching it. We're removing stones and replacing stones."

Now living in Christchurch, Whyte and a team from Goldfields Stone were using blocks of Oamaru stone from the same Parkside quarry used in the construction of the Sarjeant Gallery 104 years ago.

Theirs was a subtle art.

"You don't want to make it look brand new, because the reason we love it is because it's survived all these years," Whyte said.

"So, it's just kind of lovely and so you don't want to renew it. We're not making a new building, we're simply repairing an old building.

"And we're conserving ... it's sort of a combination of stone conservation and restoration."