Behind the freshly-painted facade, a collection of Dubbo-based tradies and suppliers are contributing to the restoration of a Macquarie Street landmark.
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Decked out in work boots, owner Jillian Kilby told of progress in bringing the building she’s dubbed The Exchange Clock Tower back to life.
The engineer who bought the heritage property from Telstra in November expressed her gratitude for the “really smart, passionate tradespeople” who were on board.
To be surrounded by really smart, passionate tradespeople, is proof in itself I could not do this on my own, but just how lucky I am to have them on board.
- Building owner Jillian Kilby
An early priority was providing new power and water services to the property.
Ms Kilby was all praise for her thorough plumber, who had “lifted every hatch and climbed every ladder” to separate the water service from adjoining tenant Telstra.
Essential Energy had also been “dynamite”, providing updates on its work on the electricity service.
The building, built in in the 1880s and also known as the former post office, had of more recent times been a favourite haunt of pigeons.
Two storeys above street level recently, Ms Kilby showed the Daily Liberal the “classy” bird wires that had been installed to keep the feral cooing birds at bay.
Other works undertaken had included replacing all the gutters and cleaning every downpipe with an electric eel.
Challenges are familiar territory for Ms Kilby, who early in her career worked as site engineer in the refurbishment of a lighthouse called 'the Wedding Cake' in the middle of Sydney Harbour.
A former winner of the Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year Award, she went on to found her company, the Infrastructure Collaborative, of which she is CEO.
The experiences of her career have shaped her approach to the restoration of the Dubbo landmark.
Since works began at the site, she has been there most days.
“You could delegate and you could do it over the phone, but there is a certain level of attention to detail that you have when you really care for it, that is best done in person,” she said.
“And if I’m asking for painters to be out on the roof in the heat and they want me to come and look at something, I should damn well be here.
“So it’s out of respect for them as well.”
The goal is for the building to be another home for The Exchange, a new community of start-ups businesses.
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