Sir Peter and his latest Shelly Bay museum plans revealed .. to an extent

Thursday, 19 June 2025

Renovations are under way at the Chocolate Fish Cafe in Shelly Bay. The old submariners barracks is being renovated and extending, meaning the cafe will have a new conservatory and extra indoor seating,

Thirteen years after Sir Peter Jackson’s plans for a museum at Shelly Bay were scuppered in an acrimonious split, the idea is back on the table with resource consent now applied for.

But the grand harbourside plans of yesteryear appear to be scaled back with the resource consent, released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, confined to an extended and refurbished two-storey officers’ mess.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said the application was now being considered, including deciding whether it would be publicly notified.

Sir Peter Jackson bought the Shelly Bay land with partner Dame Fran Walsh in 2023 and now plans a museum there.

The consent covers repair of the building, a “small addition”, two upstairs apartments and “use of the ground floor for museum, exhibition and display space”.

Jackson in 2008 planned a film museum at Shelly Bay until a split between him and landowner the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust. The split came after then-trust chairperson Sir Ngātata Love’s partner Lorraine Skiffington approached Jackson’s people wanting $750,000 plus GST including $250,000 up front.

More recently, The Post revealed Jackson and partner Dame Fran Walsh spent $136 million on a large block of land in Lyall Bay with rumours of a planned film or aviation museum.

Jackson’s office was asked on Wednesday about plans for the Shelly Bay and Lyall Bay sites. It did not respond by deadline. Jackson and Walsh bought the land from developer Ian Cassels in 2023 after his plans for a housing development fell over after years of controversy.

The celebrity, blockbuster-making couple are also bankrolling the renovation and extension of old submariners’ barracks which house the Chocolate Fish Cafe at Shelly Bay, north of the planned museum.

Considered by some to be the most important historic building within Shelly Bay, it was built in 1887 as part of an anti-submarine mining base following fears that New Zealand, then a British colony, might be attacked by the Russian navy.

Plans include a new lead-light windowed conservatory, a verandah, an expanded indoor seating area and a new sewerage system.

The extension would evoke a “pavilion character” which could be expected within a park or garden setting, the consent decision says.

Cafe owner John Pennington said the improvements had gone from being “something amazing to something incredible”.

He was especially pleased about the new sewerage system from Shelly Bay to the Miramar Cutting.

Jackson has filed a resource consent for a museum at the Shelly Bay officer's mess.

“It took them about five weeks. It was like a military operation,” Pennington said.

“I doubt that there was a cone in sight, it was just amazing how quickly, without any financial help from anybody else, we got our sewer up.”

It was expected the building work would be completed by the end of the year.

Mayoral candidate Andrew Little couldn’t talk about specifics with so few details but called himself “pro-development”.

“Wellington is in desperate need of more economic activity and if elected mayor I would make it a priority to encourage investment.”

Fellow candidate Karl Tiefenbacher said it was good to see the area get the attention it needed.

“We are fortunate to have such loyal Wellingtonians who want to see our city get its mojo back and have the resources to make that a reality,” Tiefenbacher said.

Candidate Alex Baker welcomed the news: “Between this, the Gordon Wilson Flats and the Oriental Bay rotunda I am just pleased to see some steps forward being taken on these prominent Wellington sites.”

Ray Chung, also in the mayoral race, did not respond by deadline.