Wellington City councillors ask for business case to make decision on convention centre

Thursday, 4 October 2018

A scaled down and pared back Wellington convention centre is an option if city councillors decide to even go ahead with the project at all.

Councillors will make a final decision about the project at the end of the year and if it gets the green light, the city could also be in store for major touring exhibitions such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones or Star Wars.

In August, Sir Peter Jackson and the Wellington City Council jointly announced the 'mutually-agreed parting of the ways' for a joint movie museum and convention centre, which was revealed in 2015 and was set to cost $180 million.

The council said it planned to move forward with the convention centre on Cable St, replacing the movie museum with a 1500-square metre exhibition space that would be run in partnership with Te Papa.

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On Thursday the council's economic and commercial manager Danny McComb said the council was now circling back and looking at the need for a convention centre in the city.

A process was now under way to complete the preliminary design for the building and costs around that.

He expected the economics would be similar to the movie museum projections, but expected the overall cost, with a smaller building, would be cheaper.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said councillors had asked to see a business case to make a 'stop-go' decision.

He was a 'strong supporter' of the project and expected the council would likely 'soldier on' with it but it needed to be justified.

It needed the backing of councillors and five of them were new and did not have the chance to vote on the previous decision.

'We have to be sure to comfort them with the information.'

The council had consulted the public numerous times about the project and he wanted to ensure support still existed, he said.

'I have a strong sense there is [still] support for the project but I want to make sure there is support from the Wellington and business community and a case for why we need additional convention facilities in the city.'

An independent economic business and strategic case would be presented to councillors in December for a 'yes or no' decision.

McComb said the council would 'either crack on with the project on that basis or at that point we will say thanks but no thanks, we have given it a shot'.

The business case would be similar to what was done for the joint venture with Jackson and a lot of it was still relevant, he said.

The council still wanted the building to be 'exemplar' with character and style and would try to stay faithful to the structural form of the previous design.

Changes would be made to to take advantage of the light and views, he said.

If the project goes ahead, resource consent and work would be fast-tracked to start construction in July or August next year, with the aim of being completed in three years.

Willis Bond would remain development and construction partners.

The council wanted the exhibition space to be able to pay its way, be attractive to Wellingtonians, visitors and complement Te Papa.

It would like to lure major international attractions such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, as well as movie exhibitions such as Star Wars.

It would look to bring back popular attractions such as Bug Lab and Lord of The Rings as well as various New Zealand exhibitions.

The council would go out for consultation again, Lester said.