Wellington Museum to close for earthquake strengthening in 2024
Tuesday, 14 June 2022
The Wellington Museum will close for an estimated two years in 2024 as part of an earthquake strengthening and redevelopment project.
The Wellington City Council, which owns the building, allocated $16 million for the project in its long-term plan.
This has been an ongoing project since the seismic risk was identified, said Experience Wellington chief executive Sarah Rusholme. Experience Wellington is the council-controlled arts organisation which runs City Gallery, Space Place at Carter Observatory, Nairn Street Cottage, Wellington Museum, the Cable Car Museum and Capital E.
“We are delighted to be working with Wellington City Council on the next phase of the museum strengthening and redevelopment project,” Rusholme said. The 2024 project was still at an “early stage”, but Experience Wellington and Wellington City Council were working together on how the project would progress.
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Council papers show that the museum will close in the 2024/25 year, any time in the second half of 2024 onwards.
The museum staff were still working through how to “decant” the museum – the term used for moving exhibits out of the museum and setting them up somewhere else during construction.
“Taking a community-focused approach, we will be working alongside a network of partnerships to enable access to Wellington’s heritage collections and stories while the building itself is closed,” reads the museum’s statement of intent for the next year.
The final earthquake strengthening method for the museum has not been decided yet and could change the timeline of the project.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage has provided $478,000 of funding for the strengthening project, which the museum will have to return to the government if the funds are not used by a certain date.
Another Wellington City Council earthquake strengthening project, the Town Hall, has proved difficult, facing several delays and budget blow-outs.
On the over hand the St James Theatre earthquake strengthening project is almost complete, with the theatre due to reopen for several shows later this year.