Museum redevelopment still short on cash

Sunday, 25 August 2024

The redeveloped Canterbury Museum is scheduled to reopen towards the end of 2028.

Canterbury Museum still needs to raise up to $45 million to complete its redevelopment.

It had secured more than $160m of the $175m needed for the construction phase, a spokeswoman said this week.

That was enough to fund construction through to 2026, after which another $15m would be needed.

Canterbury Museum director Anthony Wright says many people involved in the $205 million redevelopment had told him it was one of the most complex jobs they had been a part of.

The museum also needed another $28m to $30m for new exhibitions and displays.

This funding would be sought through grants, philanthropic giving and community fundraising, the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the construction phase was on budget and about a month behind schedule, trust board chairperson David Ayers said.

“That's pretty small. It's a major construction project,” he said.

Works under way on the Canterbury Museum site on Wednesday.

The museum had not signed a major contract for construction of the new buildings yet - the contract was still being arranged by project manager Rubix.

“We expect the museum to make a decision on that prior to Christmas,” Rubix director Sam Davis said.

The riskiest contract had been signed, which was for the underground work under way now, Ayers said. He reported no surprises had been encountered so far.

Canterbury Museum trust board chairperson David Ayers, left, and Public Trust chief executive officer Glenys Talivai inspect Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Polar Medal. It was gifted to the museum recently and unveiled on Wednesday.

Contractors had already demolished several buildings built in the 1950s to 1990s.

These were previously between the original buildings designed by Benjamin Mountfort, fronting Rolleston Ave and Robert McDougall Art Gallery, deeper into the Botanic Gardens.

The art gallery building was getting base isolation, but the Mountfort buildings were not. They were at 70% of the building code and survived the earthquakes because they had been strengthened some years earlier, Davis said.

Contractors were now building an underground retaining wall on the site. When it was compete, the site would “dewatered“ to allow construction of foundations and base isolation for the new building going up, Davis said.

It would start coming out of the ground late next year, he said.

While the main museum was closed, pieces were being exhibited at CoCA gallery, Ravenscar House Museum and Quake City. Touring exhibits were under way in places such as Tūranga library, Hanmer Springs and Darfield.