Council staff urge councillors to reject Canterbury Museum's request for $21m, for now

Monday, 14 April 2025

Staff at the Christchurch City Council are urging councillors not to give Canterbury Museum another $21 million to help plug a redevelopment shortfall - not yet, anyway.

Instead they are asking councillors to invite the museum to come back next year, to give the council time to consult the public.

The museum announced in November last year that the cost of its $205m redevelopment had ballooned to $247m, lifting the financial shortfall from $44.6m to $86.6m.

The council was briefed at the time, and told the museum would be seeking more money from it.

A formal request by the museum board was made on March 13, two weeks before the consultation period on the council’s draft budget, the annual plan, closed.

The museum said it planned to plug the shortfall by obtaining $25m from central government, $25m from local government, and would raise the final $36.6m itself via various trusts, corporate sponsorship and a public fundraising campaign.

The board has asked the city council for $21.1m spread across four years, and the balance of $3.9m was requested from Hurunui, Selwyn and Waimakariri district councils.

Museum director Anthony Wright told councillors earlier this month that the museum needed a commitment of funding by next January, otherwise work would stall and the project risked another budget blow out.

There was enough money to complete the building structure and make it weather-tight, he said, but it needed more money to construct services inside the building and complete the internal fit out, not including the exhibitions.

If the money was not guaranteed the project would stall and the costs would increase because the work would not happen seamlessly, adding an estimated $2.4m to the cost each year, Wright said.

However, a council staff report to be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday recommends that councillors decline to commit to the increase in capital funding.

Staff have instead recommended that the museum present an updated funding request in time for the 2026-27 draft annual plan.

“This allows the council to fulfil its obligation to consult with the community prior to making a decision in the context of an annual plan process where all the implications are understood.”

The report said staff did consider recommending the council provide the extra funding, but ruled it out because the council would not have time to consider community views on the issue before the 2025-26 annual plan is ratified in June.

The council has already contributed $59m to the project and the government has contributed $35m.

The council also contributes annually to the museum’s day-to-day operation and in 2025-26 that grant is expected to increase 3% to almost $9.4m.

The museum’s 2.3 million objects were moved to a warehouse in Hornby in 2023.

Last year, the museum fiercely defended its staff numbers, saying all 73 full-time equivalents (FTEs) were fully engaged in work and specific projects.

The museum’s draft annual plan shows there has been an increase in staff and it expects there will be 84 FTEs employed at the beginning of the 2025-26 year.

The draft plan states about 36 staff are involved in collections and research and 25 in public engagement.

The museum also operates a pop-up site in Gloucester St, the earthquake exhibition Quake City and Ravenscar House Museum.