diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bc17d050..a9485498 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,9 +11,39 @@ include extension-ci-tools/makefiles/duckdb_extension.Makefile
 # both MEOS (meos_initialize_timezone) and DuckDB (DBConfig::SetOptionByName
 # "TimeZone") to Europe/Brussels.  Tests pass on any OS timezone — the
 # extension is the single source of truth, no TZ env var needed.
+#
+# LoadInternal also calls ExtensionHelper::AutoLoadExtension(db, "icu") so
+# the timezone option is honoured. Autoload looks for the extension on disk
+# at $HOME/.duckdb/extensions/<duckdb_version>/<platform>/icu.duckdb_extension
+# and falls back to a hub download. That fails both inside the linux_amd64
+# test docker container (empty path, no network egress) and on the macOS
+# osx_arm64 test runner (hub icu not reliably resolvable). We copy the
+# icu.duckdb_extension that was built locally as part of this extension's
+# build (declared in extension_config.cmake) into the expected path,
+# matched to the DuckDB platform string, before running the unittester.
+DUCKDB_VERSION_TAG := v1.4.4
+
+define stage_icu
+	@if [ -f ./build/$(1)/extension/icu/icu.duckdb_extension ]; then \
+	  case "$$(uname -s)-$$(uname -m)" in \
+	    Linux-x86_64)  platform=linux_amd64 ;; \
+	    Linux-aarch64) platform=linux_arm64 ;; \
+	    Darwin-arm64)  platform=osx_arm64 ;; \
+	    Darwin-x86_64) platform=osx_amd64 ;; \
+	    *)             platform=$$(uname -m) ;; \
+	  esac; \
+	  target=$$HOME/.duckdb/extensions/$(DUCKDB_VERSION_TAG)/$$platform; \
+	  mkdir -p "$$target" && cp -f ./build/$(1)/extension/icu/icu.duckdb_extension "$$target/" && \
+	  echo "Staged icu.duckdb_extension at $$target/"; \
+	fi
+endef
+
 test_release_internal:
+	$(call stage_icu,release)
 	./build/release/$(TEST_PATH) "$(PROJ_DIR)test/*"
 test_debug_internal:
+	$(call stage_icu,debug)
 	./build/debug/$(TEST_PATH) "$(PROJ_DIR)test/*"
 test_reldebug_internal:
-	./build/reldebug/$(TEST_PATH) "$(PROJ_DIR)test/*"
\ No newline at end of file
+	$(call stage_icu,reldebug)
+	./build/reldebug/$(TEST_PATH) "$(PROJ_DIR)test/*"
diff --git a/src/include/tydef.hpp b/src/include/tydef.hpp
index b7b28109..b9860ca0 100644
--- a/src/include/tydef.hpp
+++ b/src/include/tydef.hpp
@@ -11,11 +11,27 @@ extern "C" {
     #include <meos_internal.h>
 }
 
-// Forward-compat alias for the meosType → MeosType rename (MobilityDB
-// pr785-sync-script).  Vcpkg's MEOS exposes `MeosType`; existing
-// MobilityDuck code still uses `meosType`.  This alias bridges the two
-// without touching every reference site.
-using meosType = MeosType;
+// MEOS naming history: `meosType` is the **pre-consolidation** spelling
+// and `MeosType` is the **post-consolidation** target (the rename is
+// part of the upstream consolidation sweep, not yet reached by the
+// vcpkg pin).  The current pin
+// (`vcpkg_ports/meos/portfile.cmake` REF f11b7443ee98…) is still
+// pre-consolidation and exposes `meosType` — see
+// meos/include/temporal/meos_catalog.h, where line 121 declares
+// `} meosType;`.  MobilityDuck's source consistently uses
+// `meosType` (verified via `grep -rn '\bmeosType\b' src/`), which
+// matches the pin, so no alias is needed today.
+//
+// An earlier version of this file added `using meosType = MeosType;`
+// as a forward-looking bridge for the eventual consolidation bump.
+// That alias references `MeosType`, which the current pin does NOT
+// yet expose, so it broke the build:
+//   "'MeosType' does not name a type; did you mean 'meosType'?".
+//
+// When the MEOS pin is bumped past the consolidation point, restore
+// a bridge here (`using meosType = MeosType;` becomes valid then) or
+// sweep the source `meosType → MeosType` in one PR — whichever the
+// project prefers at that time.
 
 namespace duckdb {
 
diff --git a/src/temporal/span_table_functions.cpp b/src/temporal/span_table_functions.cpp
index 92b3091e..df424346 100644
--- a/src/temporal/span_table_functions.cpp
+++ b/src/temporal/span_table_functions.cpp
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ struct BinsBindData : public FunctionData {
         r->blob = blob;
         r->vsize = vsize;
         r->vorigin = vorigin;
-        return r;
+        // DuckDB 1.4.4 disallows implicit derived->base unique_ptr conversion;
+        // explicit base-type construction from the moved-from derived pointer.
+        return unique_ptr_cast<BinsBindData, FunctionData>(std::move(r));
     }
     bool Equals(const FunctionData &other_p) const override {
         auto &other = other_p.Cast<BinsBindData>();