Tauranga Art Gallery to have $3.38m redevelopment as part of civic precinct project

Sonya Korohina and Rosemary Protheroe at the Tauranga Art Gallery. Photo / Alan Gibson

The entrance to Tauranga Art Gallery will be spun around to face Masonic Park in a $3.38m redevelopment.

Tauranga Art Gallery Trust chair Rosemary Protheroe said, in a statement, the project would be part of the wider civic precinct development in the CBD.

She said work would start this year. A cafe and bigger retail space would also be added.

Work on the gallery would be the first since it opened in 2007 and while it was closed the lighting, air conditioning and interior fit-out would be upgraded.

Gallery director Sonya Korohina said the interior layout would largely stay the same, with the education room moving to the Wharf and Willow St side, where the current entrance faces.

Tauranga Art Gallery in 2022. Photo / Sam Hartnett

“This redevelopment is an exciting opportunity to take us into the future as both a great space to experience art programmes and a more social space too.”

The education programme will temporarily move to a pop-up space at 42-44 Devonport Rd from mid-July, while the build takes place.

The council approved the total project budget in March with costs to be shared by the council and Tauranga Art Gallery Foundation. The statement did not specify the split but said further funds would be raised by the gallery trust and foundation.

Council general manager for city development and partnerships Gareth Wallis said it was one of the first projects under way in the civic precinct.

“The developments for the art gallery have been planned to coincide with the upgrade of the neighbouring Masonic Park, that will see the park transformed into a place where people can stop by and dine and relax or go between Te Awanui Tauranga Harbour and the civic precinct.”

The council has said the civic precinct development of a block of public land downtown will cost $303 million and include a new library and community hub as well as a civic whare, exhibition and museum building.

The project is called Te Manawataki o Te Papa - the heartbeat of Te Papa.

Minutes from the March 20 council meeting showed the council approved the $1.88 million balance of funds needed to meet the budget for the art gallery redevelopment.

It said this would not have an impact on rates because $250,000 would come from a benevolent private donation, $754,000 from “already approved Tauranga Airport Reserves” and $876,000 through corporate sponsorship and/or other external funding sources.