Until March last year, the council pursued $6 million plans to amalgamate the cultural facilities in the Forrester Gallery’s 1882 Heritage New Zealand category 1 registered Thames St site.
After it scrapped those plans, in July last year the council decided to upgrade both the gallery and the museum’s Thames St sites as stand-alone spaces.
After it dropped the 7-year-old amalgamation plans, the council lost some of the external funding it had acquired for the project, but its people and culture group manager Lisa Baillie’s report, published on the council website this week, shows $1,129,000 of that funding is still available for the upgrades.
The report also shows a staff preference for a name change for the museum and archives — to the Waitaki Museum and Archive Te Whare Taoka o Te Waitaki — and a $1,435,000 work programme for the 60 Thames St building that houses the museum and archives.
Mrs Baillie’s report also shows a preferred $3,361,000 work programme for the 9 Thames St gallery, which would include a larger extension of the building than two other options she will present at the council’s Tuesday meeting next week.
The 24-page report to the council shows $2,097,700 in available funding for the projects (including the $1,129,000 of external funding) and $4,796,000 required to meet council staff’s preferred work programme — creating a shortfall of $2,698,279.10.
The council commitment of $1.5 million for the projects will not change.
"External funding will be required to fill the gap to complete the ... selected options," Mrs Baillie writes.
The Forrester Gallery — closed for maintenance since the end of last year — presented the council with additional work early this year when toxic mould was found, and a $575,000 budget for remediation and capital works for the historic building was approved in February.
Mrs Baillie’s report shows spending on the mould remediation had been slightly over budget, with $270,748 spent from a budget of $270,000.
But just $68,340 of $305,000 for capital upgrades had been spent.
The council already has a $805,000 project under way at the museum.
