First look at new design for Wellington Town Hall frontage

Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Strengthening of Wellington’s Town Hall will be finished eight months earlier than expected and could come in $17.5 million under its revised budget ‒ after a much-publicised earlier cost blowout.

The rest of the Te Ngākau civic centre will reopen next March, city councillors were told on Wednesday. The project will also return between $15m and $17.5m to the council out of the budget approved in October 2023.

This after skyrocketing cost at that time brought the total cost to as much as $329m, prompting councillors to search for a way out of the construction project, which has been in the works since 2018.

Images of the front-of-house facilities for the new town hall have also been revealed.

The Warren and Mahoney design features a relatively lightweight timber frame and will use the existing foundations to save costs. They will be completed in time for the opening of the town hall.

Councillors were told discussion about a larger building that will include a mixture of hospitality, retail and office space is under way with developer Precinct Properties.

The strengthened Te Matapihi Central Library will be reopened on time, with practical completion of the main building on-track for August 2025.

Progress is also being made on strengthening the City Gallery, redeveloping the plaza and demolishing and clearing the quake prone buildings that were on the site.

The city council head office will begin moving to 68 Jervois Quay by the end of the year.