Economic Development Minister Shane Jones (right) and Deputy PM Winston Peters remove the first bricks from the old NRC building in Whangārei ahead of work starting on the Hundertwasser Arts Centre.
Economic Development Minister Shane Jones (right) and Deputy PM Winston Peters remove the first bricks from the old NRC building in Whangārei ahead of work starting on the Hundertwasser Arts Centre.
It was first mooted 25 years ago and next week work will finally start on the Hundertwasser Arts Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery at Whangārei's Town Basin.
Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser initially proposed a project to convert the old Harbour Board and Northland Regional Council building at the Town Basin into one of his renowned living buildings.
On Saturday, Northland firm Trigg Construction was announced as the contractor to build the $26 million centre and the first bricks from the old building were ceremonially removed.
It was the second dose of good news for the trust behind the centre in two days, after Friday's announcement by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Whangārei that the Government would give the project another $6.9m, taking total government funding to almost $10m.
Whangārei Art Museum Trust Chairman Grant Faber said work on the project was finally going to start on June 11. The building would be demolished and the material go to the Old Army Hall, in Walton St, for recycling into the project.
The event to announce the news was attended by about 200 people at the iSite just metres from the building site. It was attended by a host of local and national politicians, including Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai and Northland Regional Council chair Bill Shepherd. Three former Whangārei mayors, Stan Semenoff, Morris Cutforth and Pamela Peters, also attended.
A large crowd gathered at Whangārei's iSite on Saturday for the announcement that work would start on the Hundertwasser Art Centre next week.
"Work will start on June 11. This is the big news supporters have been waiting for since June last year. So much complex work needed to be completed; design finalisation, peer reviewing, consents, tendering, contracts, operational planning. There have been times we thought we might not get here, so it feels unbelievably good to finally be underway," Faber said.
After a nationwide tendering process, he said Whangārei-based commercial building company Trigg Construction had been appointed lead contractor for the 27-month building project.
"It is an absolute honour and a real privilege to have been entrusted to build a project that means so much for Whangārei and all of Northland," Trigg Construction Managing Director Darrell Trigg .
"No one in New Zealand has ever built anything even remotely like the Hundertwasser Art Centre, so it's going to be an exciting challenge and a career highlight for our local contractors.''
An updated economic impact report, from Northland's Regional Economic Development Agency Northland Inc, estimates construction activity of the centre will generate $49m for the region. The project has now fully-funded the contracted construction price and met more than 70 per cent of fit-out and pre-opening costs.
"We still have a portion to fundraise during the construction phase [$1.3m], but we're now 100 per cent confident we can start building knowing we'll be opening New Zealand's most exciting new building before the end of 2020," Faber said.
