The Conservatorium of Music, better known as 'The Con', on Keen Street is going through a major refurbishment.

Scaffolding surrounds the building as a new roof is erected and solar panels are installed as part of a $4.8 million program of capital works. The process of replacing the roof uncovered a ventilation turret that dates back to 1902 when the building was constructed.

Anita Bellman, Executive Director at The Con, said the turret had some signatures and initials on some degrading items.

"It was made in separate sections, and those sections had started to come apart, and at some point, a piece had fallen, so it was dangerous, and it wasn't looking as gorgeous anymore. It was always going to be part of the work to have that replaced."

(The old ventilation turret. Photo: supplied by The Con)

The team from Bennett Construction are in charge of the restoration. They discovered the turret needed replacing after 123 years withstanding Lismore's elements. When it came to who should build the new ventilation turret, Sidney & Hacking were called to get the job done.

The thinking was that Sidney & Hacking was the company that built the original in 1902, without any concrete proof.

Peter Marychurch recently purchased Sidney & Hacking with Taylor Sidney, a great-great-grandson of Norman Sidney, who established the business on Keen Street with Charlie Hacking in 1903, down the road from The Con.

Peter has been at Sidney & Hacking for 22 years, starting as an apprentice sweeping the floors.

"I spoke to Andrew about this this morning," Peter explained. "He did say there's a very high chance that we did build the turret. Obviously, there are no records, but it was built exactly the way we built things. And we were the only tin Smiths in town at the time."

The brief to Peter and Taylor was to build something very similar to the old turret.

"It's very similar, obviously a completely different method of fabrication. Back in the day, the galvanised (gal) steel was very soft and very malleable, so you could shape it. It was soft, so you could bash it around and shape it.

"These days, if you try to do a normal gal, would crease because it's higher tensile. So, they used to make it basically in flat strips and do a heap of joins like a football. Whereas these days, I created a whole sphere, and we blew it up with water pressure and turned it into a nice circle, then we polished it, cut it in half, and then I made the top bit."

Is Peter confident it will last another 120 years?

"This one will last a very long time because it's stainless steel, it's thick, it could handle hail or anything you can throw at it. It's very durable, and it's going to last a long time, for sure. The only bit that won't last will be the paint because they painted it."

Back to The Con and its $4.8 million refit through Create NSW’s Community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package and Creative Capital funding programs.

Anita Bellman, Executive Director at The Con, said they were able to get the first floor refurbished within seven months after February 28 2022, using their insurance money.

"Of course, then we've had to wait for these additional works, which are around looking to the future and ongoing sustainability. So, aspects of them are definitely restoration and post-flood reclamation. And then there's also another element that's looking towards sustainability, things like the solar panels that are being installed on the roof.

"They will make a difference. We do have a battery installed as well in the building. So, this is not just a financial decision; it's also looking at reducing our carbon footprint as well into the future."

The site is currently a construction zone; however, it will be back to normal in the next two to three weeks when the scaffolding comes down.

(The Con from Keen Street)

"As well as the roof, solar panels and the turret, we're also having a goods lift installed. That's going to be external to the building, and that's almost complete. We're having a complete redo of our car park and grounds as well and the ground floor. There's going to be reclamation happening to the ground floor. In addition to that, we've already had a complete upgrade to the fire system, which is really, really good."

The Con own the building; it was previously owned by the Department of Education. The floor height is just over 12 metres, so only the biggest flood will enter the building. There was never a thought for The Con to move out of the CBD.

"The board were very committed to staying in the CBD. One of those reasons was to show the commitment to the Lismore community, who has supported our organisation for such a long time.

"When we did the refit, front and foremost in our minds was flood resilience, minimising any waste, all that kind of thing. All throughout the first floor, there's only one cavity wall, which we just can't do anything about. But, all of the walls that you see here are some kind of marine grade foam that has been cement rendered.

"Everything on the first floor will go into our goods lift up to the top floor. And then, if we had a chance to pull the carpet tiles up, we would do that as well. And then it's really just clean it and repaint, and maybe a bit of electrical work. And that's what we're aiming for with the ground floor as well.

"We're also upgrading our concert room on the top floor to really bring it back to life. It's such a beautiful space. It's really not going to need a huge amount done to it, but it's really just to, I guess, elevate that space, and also to be looking at some acoustic treatments and updating our audio-visual capacity in that space because we do have a recording studio.

"We're reinstating the connection between the concert room and the recording studio, which means that we'll be able to have live recording in the concert room while we've got a sound Engineer in the studio, which is the console room."

The completion date for the project is June 30.

The Conservatorium of Music will then be not only returned to its former glory but built in a more resilient way for future floods.