'Do it once do it right': No pausing museum build

“Yes, they are very scary numbers, and it is a horrible time economically at the moment, but any dollar we don’t spend on this today is going to turn into $50 tomorrow."

An artist’s impression of the proposed new museum building in Invercargill.

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An Invercargill City Councillor believes the organisation would be a “laughing stock” if they paused the museum build following a revelation up to $19.5m might need to be added to the budget to complete it.

The council met on Tuesday to work through what to do now the museum cannot be built as per the $71m budget confirmed in August last year.

Council staff floated various options that the council could consult the public on round the additional $19.5m needed for the museum project. That $19.5m figure includes a possible $6m shortfall in external funding.

One of the options suggested was to pause the project and work out what the best approach is now that costs have climbed.

However, the majority of councillors had no interest in pausing the project.

Cr Alex Crackett said they simply cannot stop or pause the museum build now.

“Over the last almost eight years now this museum has been the bane of our existence,” Crackett said.

“To stop it now that we’ve got this far down the process would be such a laughingstock and a legacy I don’t think any of us wants to leave. It would be horrific.”

“Yes, they are very scary numbers, and it is a horrible time economically at the moment, but any dollar we don’t spend on this today is going to turn into $50 tomorrow. It really is the, do it once do it right.”

Mana whenua representative Pania Coote said down-sizing the building to save costs would have a ripple effect.

“The proposed removal of our foyer would reduce our revenue. It would definitely result in smaller numbers and impact on holding functions and events.

“When we remove the wow factors then we end up with a tin shed and that’s not what our community wants to have.

Coote noted there could be a reduction around some of the high-tech elements to the museum experience, or even a staged approach to it, to help with costs.

She added there was taonga, as part of the collection, that has hardly been seen.

Cr Grant Dermody - who is the council lead on the museum project - said there was significant risk in not signing the contract with Naylor Love and getting on with starting the build.

“I think we probably need to consult [the public] but I think we need to be very clear on what we are consulting about. I do not think we are consulting on stopping a museum project,” Dermody said.

Cr Ian Pottinger was the sole councillor who believed the council should be providing the public with the opportunity to pause the project on the back of the increased costs.

“This is the bit that irks me - and I believe we need to consult properly - is how we have got here.

“It’s not that we are here now it’s that how we’ve got here that we owe the public some responsibility and actually fess up that this hasn’t been that flash.

“It doesn’t make sense that all of a sudden from August [2023] we are now $13 million over what we promised the public back then,” Pottinger said.

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Mayor Nobby Clark again pointed out that he was keen to find other revenue options to ensure the added museum costs did not impact on rates for ratepayers.

He has previously suggested selling some surplus council land, including farmland at Donovan Park.

He also suggested the possible sale of the council-owned commercial building in Don St which houses the Auction House cafe and other tenants.

Cr Peter Kett said he preferred the council scaled back the museum build rather than sell off an asset like the Don St building.

An artist’s impression of the proposed new museum building in Invercargill.

The council will consult the public about the museum experience inside the building to gather their thoughts on what elements to proceed with.

There is also the prospect of scrapping a planned carparking space which would save close to $2m.

On top of that, it appears the council’s quest that the new museum achieve Green Star-rated status will be ditched saving just over $1m.

In April council representatives explained to media that they had their sights on Invercargill becoming home to New Zealand’s first Green Star-rated museum building.

“They are quite challenging buildings to become Green Star accredited. [But] we are very, very, very confident we will be a Green Star project,” Council’s programme director Lee Butcher said in April.

“The easiest way of explaining Green Star is it’s a list of performance measures from sustainability to energy use to waste recycling. All of those sorts of things.”