Uniting Church Minister Julie Lawton-Gallard admitted to shedding tears of joy as a giant crane lifted 20 tonnes of steel into the air on Wednesday.
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The steel, shifted in three sections, is the frame for the Uniting Church's new spire, a long awaited replacement for the one damaged in a December, 2014 storm.
"It's a great day," The Reverend Lawton-Gallard said.
"It's been an excruciatingly long four years. The church is the people but there's something sacred about that place."
The church on the corner of Goldsmith and Bourke Streets has been closed for services since it was "condemned" by the council in March, 2015 due to the damage and discovery that the spire was not actually attached to its base.
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Insurance has covered repairs and construction of the new 15-metre high spire. Together with the parapet, the structure will reach 30 metres into Goulburn's skyline. It is a like for like replacement.
Canberra-based heritage architect Phillip Leeson has guided the project while Sydney firm, Advanced Building has undertaken repairs and the spire's construction.
On Wednesday, a crane delicately lifted three sections of the Mittagong manufactured steel frame onto the parapet.
Advanced Building project manager Matt Gilmore likened it to a meccano set.
"It's taken 18 months to get to this stage...I've worked on insurance jobs for 20 years and this is the best one yet," he said.
The company's major loss manager David Ware said the project was challenging due to the close liaison with numerous professionals, including the architect and structural engineer.
"We found more problems with the building as we went along, due to its age. But it's been a great job to work on," he said.
The firm had just completed repairs to the corbel on top of the parapet. Workers also removed one tonne of pigeon droppings.
But there's more work to do still. The frame will be covered with plywood and a water proof membrane and then clad with Rhine zinc diamond-shaped tiles imported from Germany. This is expected to take six weeks.
"We have to make the tiles the same as the old ones," Mr Gilmore said.
But the steel spire frame, which measures five metres by 5m at the base, replaces the former timber one. When frame cladding is complete, a new lighting weather vane will be placed on top.
"This will withstand a nuclear holocaust," Mr Gilmore said of the new spire.
Watching the lift on Wednesday he said he felt like a proud father.
Meantime, The Reverend Lawton-Gallard could not say exactly when the church would re-open as the council would have to sign off on the $1.5 million work.
Services have been held at Craigs Hill Chapel on Middle Arm Road since the closure. While very appreciative of RJ Sidney Craig allowing the chapel's use free of charge, she said the Goldsmith Street church's closure had been disruptive.
"We've had to conduct funerals elsewhere for people who had been members of the church all their lives and that has been painful for families," she said.
In addition, some parishioners were not able to attend Craigs Hill services due to physical or cultural reasons and "passing traffic" had been lost.
"People have been majorly inconvenienced no doubt but they have been very resilient," she said.
The process had also been drawn out by the insurance claim, heritage and planning considerations.
The Reverend Lawton-Gallard was loath to say when services would resume there but was confident it would be at the earliest possible opportunity after the work's completion.
She vowed to hold a service of celebration when that happened.
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