Akaroa Museum welcomes community again

12 July 2013

Akaroa Museum welcomes community again

Akaroa Museum will partly re-open to the public this weekend following temporary repair work.

The museum’s small exhibition gallery and shop/foyer will re-open to the public tomorrow (Saturday 13 July) at 10.30am. The remainder of the museum’s galleries, which are more significantly damaged, remain closed to the public as investigations continue into possible repair and strengthening options for these areas.

To celebrate its re-opening, the museum is opening a new exhibition called Horomaka, which showcases 22 objects from the museum’s collections, including some new objects acquired by the museum while it has been closed. All the services offered by the museum will once again be offered from the front desk.

The repair work, carried out as part of the Council’s Facilities Rebuild Plan Programme, included demolishing an insufficiently reinforced concrete block wall and replacing it with a timber frame and plywood wall. Engineers have advised that the parts of the building where work has been completed now have a seismic capacity of at least 67 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS).
Residents and tourists visiting the building will be made aware that parts of the building cannot be accessed.

Mayor Bob Parker says this is good news for residents but also the tourists who visit the town.

“Akaroa Museum is one of the town's top visitor attractions, with nearly 14,500 people paying a visit in 2011. The Council recognised the importance of the facility last year when it identified it as one of the top 30 facilities for re-opening. We’re pleased that many months of investigations into how parts of the building could be re-opened have now come to fruition.”

Museum Director Lynda Wallace says this is a small but significant step for the museum and the Akaroa community.

“Although we are only opening a small percentage of the original museum space, the best part of opening this small space is that it fronts the main street and will allow us to have a presence again in the heart of town. Although we’ve been continuing to answer queries from the public while we’ve been closed, we’re looking forward to reconnecting with our community and visitors.”

General Manager Community Services Michael Aitken says the Council is continuing to focus on re-opening buildings that are currently closed. “This is a top priority for the Council and we’re looking at all options to ensure buildings that are important to residents can re-open as quickly as possible. In some cases this may be partially re-opening a building or putting a temporary building on a site until more permanent solutions can be found.”

The Council closed Akaroa Museum in June last year after a Detailed Engineering Evaluation showed its three galleries and foyer were below 34 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS).

It is one of the Council’s top 30 projects that in September 2012 were identified for funding, further investigation and, where possible, repairs. For more information about the Council’s top 30 projects and its Facilities Rebuild Plan Programme visit www.futurechristchurch.co.nz

ENDS

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