Theatre repair costs double
Wellington’s St James Theatre has been dealt a hefty financial blow, with an extra $16 million needed to bring the venue up to scratch.
Despite having already allocated more than $17m from the city’s Long Term Plan (LTP) budget, Wellington City Council will on Thursday vote whether to approve doubling the strengthening project budget.
The jump in cost comes after an intensive building survey identified a significant increase in construction works needed to bring the historic building up to 67 per cent of new building standards.
Councillor Nicola Young, who previously served on the theatre’s board, said while unfortunate the additional costs would have to be weathered. ‘‘There’s no doubt about it, it’s a blow but it’s just one of those things so we have to get on and deal with it. We really have no other options.’’
The multimillion-dollar top-up includes $8.1m for strengthening work and $8.6m for building renovations and upgrades.
‘‘It’s not just the seismic strengthening – we were going to do a full building upgrade in a few years time so now we’re moving that forward and doing it all in one go,’’ Young said.
The additional work will also see the timeframe for completion pushed out by a year with an expected reopening date in September 2020. Its extended closure
meant the two-yearly New Zealand Festival would have to find alternative venues for its 2020 event.
Festival executive director Meg Williams said roughly a third of its 2018 tickets had been purchased for events at the Courtenay Place venue.
The council had given her team a heads up on the project’s likely delay to give them as much time as possible to sort alternatives and alter their plans as needed.
‘‘There is no direct replacement for the St James given its scale and specifications, but we are tackling the challenge. Our absolute focus is on delivering a fantastic festival.’’
Williams said the festival would look at maximising its use of existing venues, while also scoping out pop-up options.
This year’s festival delivered more than $50m into the Wellington economy and was attended by some 300,000 people.
Other affected parties include the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) and New Zealand Opera (NZO); both of which had found a temporary home at The Opera House, where they would stay.
NZO general director Thomas de Mallet Burgess said he was ‘‘fully committed’’ to the company continuing its relationship with Wellington and appreciated the way Venues Wellington had been keeping everyone up to date with the St James’ progress.
The company had only just released its 2019 season with the Opera House serving as its Wellington venue. Planning for the 2020 season had yet to begin.
Young said the increased costs wouldn’t impact ratepayers significantly. The project was capital expenditure so the money would be borrowed, spreading the cost burden over 50 years.