Access to Whanganui’s Davis Library restricted as Sarjeant Gallery landscaping begins

Landscaping work will focus on the gallery redevelopment, with the rest of Pukenamu Queen's Park's landscape plan "on the back burner".

Vehicle access to Whanganui’s Davis Library will be restricted for the next four to five months so landscaping work around the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment can take place.

From June 3, work around the entrance to the gallery’s new Te Pātaka o Sir Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa wing will mean no parking outside the Davis, and the road between the gallery and the Alexander Library will be closed.

There will be space for drop-offs outside the Davis but the driver must remain in the vehicle.

Whanganui District Council libraries and community manager Pete Gray said the upcoming work would, inevitably, have an impact on people’s access to the library.

“There’s no real way of doing that kind of work that doesn’t involve closing off the area where it’s being done,” he said.

“At the end of it, we’ll have something better. There will be parking again and the library carpark will be restored.”

He said visitor numbers at the Davis were still below what they were for the year ending April 2019 but issues were above 2019 levels.

Two accessibility parking spaces will be available along the Cameron Terrace side of the library, with the Whanganui District Council urging caution when using them as library visitors will be crossing a contractor entrance that will include truck movements.

One-way traffic will operate on the loop road from Drews Ave, around the front of the Alexander Library and through to Cameron Terrace.

Construction work at the redevelopment is set to be completed by the end of June, with the reopening before the end of the year.

Council property and open spaces general manager Sarah O’Hagan said the upcoming work was “Phase One A” of Pukenamu Queen’s Park’s landscape design plan.

It was designed by Warren and Mahoney, the architectural firm responsible for the gallery’s new wing.

“It’s in the immediate surrounds of the gallery and its new entrance - the air bridge that connects the old building with the new,” O’Hagan said.

“Essentially, we are getting the outside and entrance of the building looking as good as it can look ahead of the opening.

“We will have two construction sites working next door to each other.”

O’Hagan said the contract for the landscaping work was being finalised and details would be revealed at the council’s operations and performance committee meeting on June 13.

The council had put the subsequent six or seven phases of the landscaping design plan - “anything past Phase One A” - on the back burner, she said.

A full detailed landscape design of Pukenamu Queen’s Park was in the works but has been shelved in the council’s draft long-term plan (LTP).

O’Hagan said once main redevelopment contractor McMillan and Lockwood had finished at the site, it would return the library’s carpark - closed for four years - back to how it was.

She said it was important to remember that “Pukenamu Queen’s Park is a park - not a carpark”.

“When the gallery is open, we will have a look and see if there’s a demand for any other sorts of parking in the vicinity.

“The plan at this stage is to ‘make good’ the previous carpark.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.