Tech museum’s issues affect gallery

Construction problems at the Canada Science and Technology Museum have forced the National Gallery of Canada to make fresh storage plans for some of its own collection.

The museum is building a new Collections and Conservation Centre, intended to store its own collection and some of the gallery ’s as well. It will open next year.

But the design of the Collections building changed after it was first approved.

Costs went up sharply from the initial estimates. For instance, the cost of specialized labs and electrical and mechanical equipment jumped from about $47 million to $119 million.

As well, problems with the initial roof design forced the architects to change the shape of the building and move its site away from its initial position.

As a result, the museum’s board of directors realized they could not have the project they wanted for the approved cost of $156.4 million. They chose to substitute a smaller and simpler building and stay on budget.

A document from Treasury Board, released under an access to information request, says that as a result the storage building may start running out of space within five years of opening.

It adds that the museum’s and art gallery’s “long-term artifact storage needs will not be met.”

And the National Gallery now says that it has had to make changes in its storage plans.

It says in an email that “the Gallery was kept aware of the issues faced by the owner of the project. Planning for Gallery storage has been adjusted accordingly.”

It won’t say what kind of adjustments it is making: “As you will appreciate, we do not disclose detailed information about art storage.”

The museum has not given details of its plans after this newspaper’s requests for information this week, but it says that it wants to expand the new building in one or two more phases, if funding becomes available.

It adds that “we are confident in the work being done by our engineers and architects and will continue to ensure that the overall project stays on track until its successful completion.”