Wellington Library’s $14k website bill was actually closer to $600k

Thursday, 28 May 2026

A glitzy website launched to celebrate the opening of Wellington’s refurbished central library building Te Matapihi cost nearly $600,000, pushing the costs associated with the library opening to more than $800,000.

It was also developed and built by an Auckland company and has been denounced by one councillor as “gold-plated promotional spending”.

The Post was told, in an official information response that the production cost for the dedicated Te Matapihi website was $13,961.

However, it has since been discovered the full cost of designing and building it (the end-to-end delivery) was actually $595,801.

The higher figure was provided in a separate, unpublished response to an official information request made by a member of the public, also released on Friday.

In apologising for the misunderstanding, the council said the almost $600,000 spend covered design, development, website build, user testing and launch. The $13,961 figure quoted to The Post was the cost of an “interim mini-site”.

A procurement process was undertaken for the work, with final contract spend approved by the chief operating officer. An Auckland firm was the successful vendor.

Officials said the standalone website was built to be “customer-centric”, establishing Te Matapihi as an “entry portal for the diverse services and spaces” that comprise it.

Te Matapihi itself was not just a library, but “a multi-use hub that brought together a range of services and functions”.

“The Te Matapihi website was designed to bring these elements together in a single digital presence and to communicate the overall intention, identity and visitor experience of Te Matapihi as a destination within Te Ngākau Civic Square.”

What it doesn’t do, however, is allow you to join the library. Rather users are directed to the existing council library website if they want to sign up. Searching for Wellington library will also take you to the original site.

Similarly it also links to other council platforms such as archives online, the Capital E website, and the council’s room booking and ticketing systems.

Asked to comment on the new site a digital designer said the unusually high number of design elements, along with the audio content, pointed to an expensive production. The branding and navigation didn’t line up with how people actually looked for the library, they said.

Diane Calvert, chairperson of the planning and finance committee, said she was astounded that nearly $600,000 was approved for a website for one council building, “especially when the council’s main website is outdated and has major usability issues”.

“While the funding sat within the wider Te Matapihi- Central Library project budget, approved before the last election, the scale of this expenditure was clearly not sufficiently transparent to elected members to enable proper scrutiny.

“Coming on top of the planned half-million-dollar opening costs, it raises serious questions about oversight, transparency, and spending priorities within the project. Wellingtonians expect careful spending, not gold-plated promotional projects dressed up as essential infrastructure.”

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said the library had attracted 350,000 visits since its opening and was on track to reach 1.8 million, or 4900 people a day, in its first year.

“However, we appreciate it represents a significant amount and that the current council has set very clear expectations that all spending must reflect the council’s current financial state, along with the public’s expectations about careful cost control to keep rates rises as low as possible.”

It was highly unlikely a similar project would be approved today, he said.