Council faces big bill for Pa¯taka

Nearly $1million will be spent by Porirua City Council on upgrading and maintaining the city’s museum and gallery.

Pa¯taka’s public galleries, a meeting room and performing art studio will close for about four months in the new year for a budgeted $905,000 worth of improvements and repairs.

Porirua mayor Mike Tana said while it was ‘‘a huge cost’’ it was a necessary one.

‘‘It actually is the jewel in our crown, other places don’t have what we have and it needs to be protected.’’

The building’s roof needed urgent repairs and a failure could mean museum exhibits could be damaged, Tana said.

‘‘Everyone knows it’s an iconic part of our country so why wouldn’t we take care of it? It’s going to take care of us in the long run.’’

The council’s chief operating officer, Tamsin Evans, said new roofing, an improved office space and new toilet and changing facilities were among the work to be carried out.

The roof was proposed to be a ‘‘warm roof’’ to make controlling the gallery environment easier and more environmentally friendly, she said.

‘‘We are also upgrading the office area at the same time, which will include improved office space, toilet facilities and heating and ventilation systems.’’

Interior work included altering the old toilets, kitchen and office space into a new office area and a full upgrade of the kitchen.

Installation of heating and ventilation for all areas was also planned.

Opened in 1998, visitor numbers to the museum have fallen in the past few years, according to the council’s annual reports.

In the 2016/2017 year, 346,086 people visited the museum, compared with 392,523 in 2015/2016.

The public galleries, community meeting room and performing art studio will be closed from January 22 until May 26, 2018, while the library, cafe, gift shop, atrium space and two meeting rooms will remain open The Bottle Creek Community Gallery will be open for the first stage of the building maintenance work, but will close from March to late May.

During the closure, a series of public installation works will be exhibited in the museum’s atrium and around the city.