State Heritage grant provides new slate roof for Old Mittagong Post Office

Matt Henderson purchased the Station Street property in 2010. It last operated as a post office in about 1965.

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"This building actually held the old post office and the exchange," Mr Henderson said.

"You can see all sorts of nods to the past still, within the building. There was an old telephone booth outside and people would come up to this little door and lift it up and put down their money to buy another 20 minutes."

Mr Henderson has an approved DA to restore the building and transform it into a five-bedroom bed and breakfast operation with a 25-patron restaurant at the bottom.

"That's the future use that we have approval for," Mr Henderson said.

"The DA was a collaboration between myself and the Wingecarribee Shire Council because the building is listed with the State Heritage Register."

There are different levels of heritage listings, according to Mr Henderson.

"The buildings next door were built at much the same time but their significance is less so they're heritage registered with the council," he said.

"However, if we want to do anything with this property we have to go through the State Heritage Register."

A construction certificate to renovate the building is now in place and the DA is "evergreen".

The goal is to return features of the original building as part of the new renovation.

"There was an internal arch doorway that lead into the exchange which we want to put back in," Mr Henderson said.

"Our hardest challenge is coming up with a compromise between the current building code and what you can do without affecting the original fabric of the building as much as possible."

His biggest challenge is a beautiful internal staircase.

"It's not something that we would want to affect in anyway but the last part of the construction certificate relies on us getting it as compliant as possible," Mr Henderson said.

"In my mind it's been a staircase for the last 30 years and it's worked. But you have to get someone to sign-off on that against the current code."

Although the engineer has restored and lived in a number of Highlands properties this will be his biggest project to-date.

"We've had a couple of older houses that we've lived in and restored but nothing of this magnitude," Mr Henderson said.

"When we got the place it was multiple colours and painted on the outside.

"We've been able to get permission to build a second dwelling out the back, which will then provide for a function room. The idea is that it will take the form of a stable," he said.

Mr Henderson said the new building would take advantage of the current car park.

"Because the number of people that move in and out of there is much more significant than up and down the street," he said.

"From a business point of view there's value in it if you can somehow leverage off that."

The property is just short of 300 square metres. And thanks to a State Heritage grant it now also has a brand new slate roof.

"We took the roof off and all the slate off in its entirety," Mr Henderson said.

"We put a breathable layer beneath the slate and then at the same time we did the guttering."

He described the grant as "advantageous".

"We had the alternative to take the slate off and put corrugated iron throughout but it just wouldn't have had the same charm. The roof badly needed attention. It was failing in spots," Mr Henderson said.

"Council's heritage specialists recognised that it was a big job. They organised for a consultant to come up from Canberra who said that if we wanted to do the slate instead of corrugated iron it was going to be expensive."

The decision to go with slate over corrugated iron was the premise of Mr Henderson's application for grant assistance from the State Heritage Register.

As a result, the cost of the roof was split 50/50 between Mr Henderson and the State Heritage Register.

"The roof cost just short of $100,000 and State Heritage said that they would provide a grant for 50/50 up to $80,000," Mr Henderson said.

"When you look at the value of the roof and the return on that financially it was not attractive. Getting the original fabric of the building, definitely that's a plus, but people aren't going to see that as part of the capital value for the building."

However, with financial assistance Mr Henderson was able to replace the slate roof like for like.

"There are only three companies that we're aware of in Australia, or at least along the eastern seaboard, that do this type of work," Mr Henderson said.

"All the guys that were involved in the job were Welsh or Scottish. The trade is not something that really is developed here. The guy that did the slating goes from job to job and all he does is slate roofs."

It took almost six weeks from start to finish and Mr Henderson said it was comforting to know that the roof was finally secure.

"It's very satisfying," he said.

With the construction certificate in place Mr Henderson has "more or less" an open timeframe to complete the renovation.

"We've done enough work, particularly from the heritage aspect, to give the building the integrity," he said.

"It wouldn't have made sense before to start doing the internal work with a leaking roof, but now we can get started."

The bed and breakfast was initially a transition-to-retirement project. However, Mr Henderson and his family have since invested in a parcel of property out the back of Canyonleigh.

Keen to devote his time to farming, Mr Henderson will now complete the renovation and put this piece of local history back on the market.

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