‘Huge opportunity’: $155m Te Papa project will boost struggling building sector

Friday, 15 August 2025

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A new multimillion-dollar Te Papa facility set to be built in Upper Hutt will provide a long overdue boost to the construction sector, according to one industry commentator.

Construction is set to begin next week on the long-awaited, purpose-built biodiversity research centre, which has a total cost of $155 million. It will house the world’s largest collection of New Zealand and Southern Ocean fishes, along with other significant specimens.

Politicians, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, were at the site on Thursday for a sod-turning photo opportunity, taking the chance to tout the construction as part of a suite of infrastructure projects.

Professor John Tookey, from AUT’s School of Future Environments, told The Post the country was in “dire need” of developments of this scale.

“The building industry has been under massive pressure for the last few years. We've seen a downturn, particularly in building and commercial construction generally. So … having a $150 million project in the Upper Hutt area will provide a huge opportunity for commercial subcontractors in particular.”

The 6600sqm complex will be built in the suburb of Trentham and will replace an ageing and earthquake-prone storage building on Tory St in central Wellington.

LT McGuinness, the contractor, estimated that 2000 people will work on the project in some way, with about 150 people on-site at peak times.

It has been designed for seismic resilience and sustainability, includes state-of-the-art storage, research laboratories and backup systems, and is expected to be used to the year 2080.

In total more than 866,000 specimens of fish, invertebrates and reptiles that are stored in jars of alcohol will be housed in the facility. The oldest specimen is a hoki caught in Wellington Harbour in 1869, but the collections also feature larger marine species including sharks and a colossal squid.

“Our fish collection alone represents decades of scientific work and underpins crucial research in fisheries, biosecurity and environmental science,” said Te Papa chief executive Courtney Johnston.

Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy welcomed the development springing up in his town.

He had been aware of the project for about two years and attributed the decision to build in the Hutt to 'the environment we've created'.

'You give people confidence to create and invest in your city,' he said.

Guppy said there was a growing trend toward choosing Upper Hutt to invest in from both private and public firms, in part due to its flat terrain and direct transport links to Wellington City.

It was also well set up with amenities.

The new research facility will be close to the popular entertainment complex Brewtown, which is poised to gain a new independent supermarket in the coming weeks, and the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport, at which elite sports teams like the All Blacks practice.

Tookey said the project was a “sizeable” project in the “mid-upper range of typical commercial construction projects”.

“Because most infrastructure jobs, if you're dealing with roads or extensions to tunnels or anything like this, there's a huge amount of spend. But if you're dealing with a commercial construction job, the most important thing is you're actually paying for people - in the sense of subcontractors - to do work on the substructure, superstructure and fit out of a building,” he said.

“So it's much more jobs intensive than than a standard sort of infrastructure job, which tends to be a lot of stuff in concrete and in the ground.”

Tookey said the development was a bright spot amid the dreary headlines for infrastructure, with reports this week that Kāinga Ora has more than halved the number of building contractors it employs.

“The truism of life is we build our way out of recessions. We're in a building recession at the moment, I think it's fair to say, and because of that the only way we're going to turn that around is ultimately by investing in some project work, which is going to generate positive cash flow into the sector. It's essential,” he said.

The Government has been touting its commitment to kick off $6 billion in infrastructure projects this side of Christmas, of which the Te Papa facility is just one development.

Te Papa’s current Tory St storage facility will be decommissioned for wet collection use by April 2029.

It will still be used for some of the museum’s dry collections, however there may be options in future to move those items out to Upper Hutt too, Johnston told The Post.

A 12-month transition period will ensure the safe relocation of the specimens from Wellington City to Upper Hutt, without compromising their scientific integrity.

The new facility will not be open to visits from the general public, except for those who have relevant interests or affairs with the collections.

Projects like this would allow Upper Hutt’s other sectors including hospitality, retail and accommodation to reap the benefits, said Guppy, in addition to the clear boost to the local construction industry.

'Invariably', Guppy added, more people would move to Upper Hutt because of the project.

But it was not an us-vs-them situation, Guppy said, in terms of Upper Hutt stealing Wellington City's thunder. It was positive news that the project would remain in the wider Wellington region.

The people of Upper Hutt were proud and excited about the major developments and investments the city was experiencing, he said.

'People want to be part of the action of a successful city.'

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