Auckland Museum's latest exhibition DIVA celebrates the figures that have defined generations in music, fashion, and performance. Photo: Sharon Brettkelly
Two Auckland heritage buildings have been the centre of attention - one because it is finally getting funding for restoration, the other because it is facing a multi-million dollar asbestos problem.
The discovery of deadly abestos dust at Auckland Museum has thrown its $40 million centenary year plans up in the air as it grapples with the hefty costs of losing visitors and making the building secure.
The museum is now partly open after three weeks of full closure and many of the exhibition rooms on the north side will reopen in October. But the big drawcard for international tourists - the Māori Court - will stay closed indefinitely as experts work through the delicate job of getting the asbestos out of the ceiling.
The problem has hit takings at the museum hard, with June visitor numbers nearly half of projections of 18,000 a week, and July down by more than a third on expectations.
Chief executive David Reeves tells The Detail he does not know where the money will come from to cover the millions of dollars in losses and the cost of removing the asbestos.
"It's a pretty serious matter. Over the last few years we've spent down our reserves, we've redeveloped the building. It's a tricky situation and the museum board are really quite concerned about it," Reeves says.
Clearing the microscopic fibres will drag on the museum for years and Reeves says the $30-$40 million planned spend on the centennary celebrations in 2029 is looking uncertain, while other projects are also under review.
"It's a terrible thing that the museum board and the executives have been handed," says Newsroom co-editor Tim Murphy. "They've been, out of nowhere, almost crippled in their business and their vision for the museum by asbestos dust that as it turns out is the byproduct of a poorly done renovation of decades ago where material was just left behind."
Instead of the usual throng of visitors in the grand foyer and Māori Court at the museum's northern end, it is full of pipes, tubes and pumps and just a few key workers.
Asbestos experts have assessed the best ways to remove the dust, which is not only in the roof cavity above the court, but on some artefacts.
One possible option of lifting the roof off the museum to extract it has been eliminated, says Reeves. But getting to the source of the asbestos in the void above the court's curved glass ceiling is difficult because the space is too small for people.
The likely option is that workers will take out the ornate heritage ceiling in sections but only after they have removed the precious artefacts underneath.
Reeves calls the problem an octopus with more than eight tentacles.
"We'll get there," he says. "Unfortunately at great cost."
Contrast that with another historic Auckland building, St James Theatre off Queen Street where restoration work will start next month, with the help of $30 million in government and Auckland Council funding, after lying derelict for more than a decade.
"That beautiful old theatre that three times hosted Queen Elizabeth on her royal visits and was a fantastic centrepiece for performance, music, theatre productions and cinema for years and generations will be restored," Murphy says.
The funds were allocated by previous council and government and the money finally landed just weeks ago and reluctantly handed over by the current council and government.
Whether Auckland needs another venue in its arts precinct on Queen Street is another question.
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