Museum work put at $20m

Historic estimates suggest about $20 million would be needed to redevelop and strengthen the soon-to-be-closed Southland Museum and Art Gallery building, while at least 25 of the museum’s 41 staff face losing their jobs.

The Invercargill City Council and Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust board announced on Monday they would be closing the museum building because of earthquake safety concerns.

Museum manager Paul Horner said they would ‘‘maybe retain about 13 or 14’’ of the 41 staff, but no final decisions had been made.

Staff had taken the news of the museum closure hard and he felt for those who would not be retained.

Staff work in several areas of the pyramid building, including a shop and cafe, which will both be closed, an i-Site information centre, which will be relocated, and the museum and art gallery spaces and tuatara enclosure.

The number of staff retained would depend on several issues, including what temporary accommodation could be set up in the central business district for art exhibitions.

‘‘We have a programme of 18 months of exhibitions contracted, so we would like to be able to fulfil those contracts and we need some temporary space for that,’’ Horner said.

The museum collection would stay in the museum until a new storage facility was found.

In the meantime, the building, though closed to the public, would remain functional so the museum collections, art and tuatara could be retained in good nick.

Some staff retained by the council would continue to do work in the museum, including packaging up the museum collection items for their eventual relocation, but the risk to staff would first be considered.

Horner said a report done in 2014 suggested the cost of strengthening and redeveloping the building to 100 per cent of the building code would be about $20m, but the council did not have enough information to give an updated figure.

The $20m figure in 2014 was based on re-roofing, seismic strengthening, demolishing one of the three buildings under the pyramid roof and ensuring sufficient exhibition space was inside.

Correspondence to Horner, written by Win Clark who peer reviewed the 2013 engineers report on the museum - and confirmed it was probably earthquake prone - suggests there may not be much difference in cost between strengthening the museum building and rebuilding.

The 2013 engineering report, written by Opus International Consultants, identified critical structural weaknesses and found the building to be earthquake prone and less than 34 per cent of the then building standard.

A peer review of the Opus report, carried out by Win Clark, says his opinion is that strengthening the existing structures is unlikely to achieve the level of protection required for the valuable material in the building.

‘‘Whatever strengthening work is carried out, there will remain aspects of performance in the four major structural elements that could lead to significant damage [in an earthquake].

He believed the 2013 Opus report remained relevant for the assessment of the building’s seismic resistant capacity, and found the building was ‘‘probably earthquake prone’’.

No decisions have been made about the museum’s future.

William Watt, a former senior manager at the Invercargill City Council, said he would now like the whole concept of a museum in Invercargill to be revisited.

Museums had replaced churches as the cultural heart of communities, he said.

‘‘The community will want a cultural heart ... whether it takes the form of a tra- ditional museum is right up for debate.’’

Watt said he was baffled why the structural integrity of the museum building had not become ‘‘the significant issue’’ until now.

The council knew in 2013 the museum was below 34 per cent of the building code, as the code stood then, and should have focused on whether it was remediated or replaced at that time, he said.

He believed the building should have been closed in 2013.

Invercargill City Council works and services director Cameron McIntosh said the decision to close the building was the responsibility of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust Board.

When the board received the 2013 Opus report, plans for refurbishment of the museum were in place and funding was being sought, and it was considered all reasonable steps were being taken to remedy the situation.

Further, new laws regarding earthquake-prone buildings had not come into force.

After they were introduced, the peer review was sought.

‘‘Given there are no longer immediate plans or funding for the refurbishment of the museum, the board and council are taking the ... steps of withdrawing staff and closing the building in the interests of employee and public safety.’’

McIntosh said it was too soon to consider future museum options, but the council had indicated a desire to work with the board to maintain a museum presence in the city.

The council’s long-term plan, now out for consultation, anticipated development of the museum in 10 years but this would be addressed under urgency if the council decides sooner to establish either a temporary or permanent museum.

Council’s long-term plan sets aside $8.75m for museum redevelopment, $7.5m for a regional storage facility and $2.5m for a living dinosaurs display, McIntosh said.