ICC may have to face museum bill alone
If a recommendation to build a $66 million museum in Invercargill proceeds, the Invercargill City Council may have to pay $22m towards it without any help from other councils.
Strategic planner Tim Walker’s report, commissioned by the Southland Museum and Art Gallery trust board, recommends the now-closed museum adjacent to Queens Park be retained and developed at an estimated cost of $66m, to be completed in 2023-24.
No decisions have been made on whether to adopt the recommendation or go in a different direction.
The price tag [including a $5.6m off-site storage space for the museum collection] allows for cost inflation at 7 per cent year-onyear, bringing the total to $66m by the 2023-24 build date.
The report, which is eight months old, was leaked to Stuff this month.
It suggests $22m of the $66m funding come from Southland’s councils.
However, Toni Biddle, the museum board’s chairwoman and the Invercargill deputy mayor, indicated the Southland and Gore district councils were unlikely to contribute as they already paid into the Southland Regional Heritage rate.
As such, the city council may have to pay the entire $22m contribution from the councils if the $66m museum option is decided on.
The city council was likely to take over the ownership and governance of the museum, after consulting with the public, so it would be the city council’s responsibility to drive the museum development, Biddle said.
The city council had discussed the museum report with Tim Walker and it would decide on its preferred option and put the issue out for public consultation.
The council had employed a professional fundraiser and other funding options, such as a philanthropist, needed to be considered, she said.
Biddle was in favour of the $66m museum being built, suggesting some of the money could come from city council reserves.
But she believed a cheaper option put forward by councillor Nobby Clark, of just restrengthening the museum and reopening it, should also be on the table. ‘‘If we can’t afford $22m then we have to look at another option.’’
The restrengthening option needed to be costed, she said.
The museum board would release the Walker report to the public at its next meeting in April, Biddle said.
Walker said any delays in the project beyond 2023-24 would see the costs rise even more.
‘‘The longer you wait the more the costs go up.’’
His report says the design brief should include a childrenfocussed discovery centre, destination cafe, multi-functional and flexible spaces, space to allow for functions and events, indooroutdoor
‘‘The longer you wait the more the costs go up.’’ Tim Walker, strategic planner
flow, increased activitybased space, climate control, digital infrastructure and security.
The report outlines where he expects the funding for the $66m museum to come from.
However, he had since changed the mix slightly, with the revised table suggesting $22m from Southland’s councils [unchanged]; $4m from partnerships and fundraising [unchanged]; $30m from national funding sources including the Provincial Growth Fund, Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Lotteries significant projects, and $10m from other Lotteries and trusts.
Walker said he would be excited and interested in people’s response once the report became a public document.
His design was not a bells and whistles solution, he said.
The big costs were in the fitout, digital equipment and reroofing, he said.
Visitors to the museum would know they were inside a pyramid which was not currently the case.
‘‘It gives you a chance to create a realm of experience so you lose the outside world.’’