Wellington’s library website - why did it cost so much and did it need to?

Friday, 12 June 2026

An independent investigation is under way after Wellington City Council spent $600,000 on a controversial website for the newly opened central library. But how did it get to this point and was the finished product worth the cash?

Sexy? Maybe. Functional? Questionable. Pricey? Definitely.

Wellington City Council says Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui/Wellington central library website was designed as a single digital presence to communicate the overall intention, identity and visitor experience of Te Matapihi as a destination and multi-service cultural hub within Te Ngākau Civic Square.

The contract was given to Journey Digital, an Auckland-based company.

Critics, and they include ratepayers, the mayor and deputy mayor, councillors and other web designers argue it’s little more than a flashy digital brochure that adds little to existing websites for the various council services.

The Post was keen to talk to Journey about its development. However, chief executive Dane Tatana said it was policy not to publicly discuss project details.

So is it just a very pretty front door or is there more to it? We asked some Wellington-based industry experts.

Is the Te Matapihi website worth half a million dollars?

Yes, and no.

Jamie Patterson, creative director at Wellington agency Ambitious Aotearoa, had no real quibbles about the design, describing the site as a large, bespoke, and “really interesting” project.

Its extensive storytelling elements, its cultural content, multiple user journeys and interactive paths, and a substantial amount of unique design work across its pages clearly represented a huge amount of work, he said.

However while that complexity could plausibly add up to $600k in hours, the strategic choice to commission that much work was debatable, he said. A tighter, smaller project might have been more appropriate and cheaper.

Another designer, who asked that their name not be used, likened Te Matapihi to a 30-page brochure and marketing site rather than a functional library portal.

There were numerous accessibility issues and functionality was not instinctive. They said its jarring colour scheme would make it hard to use for people with vision impairment, while the forced loading screen created barriers for anyone using assistive technologies or sensitive to motion.

Evan Bayly is chief executive of Wellington-based Expert, which has been designing and building websites for 26 years. He and his team were not hugely impressed.

Yes, he said, it was “sexy” and had all the bells and whistles… “but in terms of value, I really struggle to see how you could spend in excess of a half a million dollars on something like that”.

Is the sky the limit if someone is prepared to pay?

It all depends on the brief, or in this case on what the council asked the successful tenderer to provide.

The Post’s request for the procurement document is being treated as an official information request, hence we haven’t seen the full extent of it. However from extracts quoted in a previous LGOIMA it appears the “wants” were fairly extensive.

Patterson said it was not unusual for significant websites such as Te Matapihi to cost in the six figures. “$600,000 would be relatively extreme, but it certainly isn’t uncommon.”

“From what I can see, there seems to be unique designs from page to page, and that’s just design. Someone’s got to sit there and lay out all of those pages.”

It was difficult to pick a ballpark figure given a lack of detail, he said. “Maybe it should have cost $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, but that’s not to say what has been built is not worth $600,000. Maybe the brief should have been tighter, so we have less stuff and we spend [less].”

A charge-out rate of $200 an hour was not unreasonable. A recent tender to rebuild WorkSafe websites‒which was likely a similar-sized project but with fewer storytelling components ‒had required agencies applying for the contract to have previously worked on projects that were in excess of $250,000.

“So that gives you an idea of the base level that you’re working on.”

Similarly, our unnamed designer said a standard agency rate could sit between $100,000 and $200,000 for a marketing and visitor site for a large corporate client.

“But even if it [$600k] was a reasonable price, it seems hard to rationalise such a website when the council already has a functional website.”

While there wasn’t a hard-and-fast cap on what a vendor might quote, usually the client would go to an agency with an agreed budget and purpose and that would determine what the agency would deliver, they said.

“Council's procurement processes, and a very clear contract and vision, should have prevented costs from escalating.”

The annual management fee of $72,000 seemed unusually high, not being far off the salary of a full-time web editor. “And there is no way this website will require continual updating.”

Bayly suggested a top figure of $50,000 to develop and build the website. “If someone asked me if my company built that, [and] what would it have cost you to build, then I think we’re talking anywhere between about $20,000 and $50,000.”

A lot of functionality, which could be modified depending on client needs, was now available off the shelf, so starting from scratch was not always necessary, he said.

Could AI or Fivver have been used?

Wellington mayor Andrew Little has suggested AI could build a good website in 20 minutes. Deputy mayor Ben McNulty said he had built and managed both websites and content management systems, including “an entirely fresh CRM through Silverstripe to handle multiple content block types…and they've come in at the $60-$100k range.” He claimed a developer on Fiverr (a gig-based marketplace) could have built something similar for 1/40th of the cost.

Not so, says Patterson. Content‑rich, custom government websites often cost six figures because they require “dozens if not hundreds” of hours of professional work. Focusing only on the big number without understanding the time and scope was misleading.

The level of work which had obviously gone into the Te Matapihi site couldn’t realistically be done on Fiverr for $15,000.

“That concept is complete nonsense.The cost of [a website] is time, so the amount of time we spend on it, times an hourly rate. Even just from a design point of view, there’s huge amounts of time that would have gone into that site.”

As for the AI comment, Patterson was livid - saying it feeds into the narrative that skilled workers were no longer needed. “What it says is we don't need these people any more because we can just do a sort of half-assed job with AI…”

Bayly, too, was sceptical, saying that while AI was useful it was limited and would still need time, effort, and tailoring to meet client requirement.

“I sort of struggle with 20 minutes, but it’s fair comment from where [Little] is coming from‒ he's trying to save money.”

Does it work as a library website?

While there has been considerable criticism over the fact core elements expected of a library website (catalogue searches, hold requests, e-book downloads) are missing, the council’s procurement plan for it states that rather than being the library’s website it would stand alone, “specific to Te Matapihi, reflecting the associated branding, principles, goals, and services. As such it will be separate in function and look to that of Wellington City Libraries, albeit with appropriate links.”

A list of “musts” included that it should “create compelling customer journeys, strengthening the customer’s engagement with Te Matapihi, both the building and its offerings, adopt and promote Te Matapihi visitor experience vision of ‘I belong’ and support and strengthen Te Matapihi visitor experience strategies.”

It would also play a crucial role in promoting the library’s diverse range of programming, from literary festivals to language classes, toddler “rock and rhyme” to Friday evening jazz.

Patterson says it probably does what was asked. “A library is more than ‘where are the books’, a library is a central hub for a community, and that’s one thing that’s been missing in Wellington for a very long time.”

However our other designer notes given the core functional elements of a library website are missing, with the transactional aspects of library services still handled by the pre-existing Wellington City Libraries website, and given the word 'library' didn’t feature prominently on the website, some users might assume they had landed on the wrong thing.

“While many Wellingtonians are familiar with the library's name, Te Matapihi isn't necessarily a term that visitors would immediately recognise, which makes the idea that this is a marketing tool a difficult one to understand.

“Ultimately, the new site functions solely as a flashy marketing directory for the physical building space while completely missing both substantive digital library services and baseline public accessibility,” the said.

Bayly gave it the thumbs down too. Chest beating, he said, but in language that can’t be repeated.

“It's all nice and flashy, but really what I want is information.”

Could or should a Wellington agency have built it?

Yes and yes.

As a Wellington ratepayer Bayly believed money spent by the council should circulate back into the local economy, especially when there are public concerns about value for money.

He pointed out that Wellington is, and the council promotes it as, one of the country’s key tech hubs, with plenty of local firms capable of doing the job. Alongside that, council’s own procurement strategy says work should be offered to Wellington-based companies.

“You’ve got issues in terms of what value rate payers are receiving in the city at the moment? So why would you actually go spend money elsewhere?”

Patterson believed changes were needed to the procurement strategy, to ensure there were no conflicts of interest. “I’m sure that if you were in Christchurch, they would probably focus on trying to find a Christchurch agency. I think if you are the Wellington City Council, you should probably focus on finding a Wellington agency to do it.”