Museum contracts awarded

Cantabrians will see their new museum begin to rise from the ground next year.

The contract to build the new base-isolated basement and five-level building has gone to Leighs Construction Ltd.

The build will include a large floor to ceiling atrium, a new home for the 26-metre long blue whale skeleton. Tenders for the construction contract were all well above the museum’s anticipated budget. The projected cost has also increased due to an extra $3.8 million to remove asbestos from the Robert McDougall Gallery and another $5 million due to unexpected ground conditions, which has slowed progress beneath the gallery.

The projected total cost of the redeveloped museum is now $247 million, up 20.5% from $205 million in 2022, with a planned re-opening in mid-2029. The museum’s funding shortfall has now increased from $44.6 million to $86.6 million.

Museum Board Chair David Ayers says it has enough committed funding secured to complete a weathertight and insurable building and base-isolated basement, and to install any plant that is integral to the building construction phase.

“We’re really disappointed with the increase given our strict cost control to date. But we’re not alone in facing escalating construction costs. It wasn’t unexpected against the inflationary backdrop of recent years,” David says.

“The museum is being developed in discrete stages to ensure that we’re not committing to any work that we can’t afford. This careful and responsible approach means we have time to raise the remaining funds.

“In the meantime, we need to keep building to maintain the buying power of the funds we already have,” he adds.