New Invercargill museum receives backing from councillors after cost blow-out

Invercargill councillors are biting the bullet and backing their new museum, despite a multimillion-dollar budget blowout.

During public consultation, more than a third of submissions wanted Te Unua Museum of Southland built as promised, but others worried about another rates rise.

An extraordinary council meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss potential options to cut costs, including the possible removal of Green Star Accreditation; waiting to build the car park; or reducing the digital experience.

It was a shock when Invercargill's iconic pyramid-shaped museum was forced to close in 2018, due to an earthquake risk.

For years, the city has mulled over what to do next, before settling on a new museum design.

But the project hit a hurdle in July, when councillors were told the $74 million project would cost another $13m to build, due to higher than expected costs and added features.

Councillor Darren Ludlow said the time for tinkering was over.

"We will actually have a generation of kids who've grown up in Invercargill without a museum, and we owe it to them, their kids and their parents to make sure we're giving them something that's worth the wait," he said.

Faced with a 1.5 percent rates rise, councillors debated different options to cut costs during the meeting.

That included removing Green Star Accreditation, waiting to build the car park, or reducing the digital experience.

Councillor Peter Kett did not want to see any carparks delayed.

"I tell you now. We get one chance of doing this and we must do it right. We must go the full hog, get it out of the way."

Councillor Lesley Soper said they set out to replace an old, tired but well-loved building with something better.

"We'd be cutting small corners that in the bigger picture of things don't end up with the wow factor delivery that we always said we wanted," she said.

One of the points made by council staff was that Green Star Accreditation had to be sought from the start, but if achieved, Te Unua Museum of Southland would be the first museum in the country with this status.

Grant Dermody - the lead councillor for the museum rebuild - spoke to a lot of people about what they wanted.

"It re-emphasised the importance of this project to our community and the desire of our community to get on and get it done, and that was overwhelming and I think that gives us good confidence as a council that that's what our community wants."

Councillor Ria Bond voted against proceeding with the final design.

"Not for the reason that we don't need the museum, not for the reason that we've heard (from) submitters," Bond said.

"But it actually comes prior to that, it's the reason for July being notified that we wouldn't meet the budgeted outcome at the time so that for me, on principle, I won't be supporting that option."

Deputy mayor Tom Campbell said Tuesday's debate swayed his decision away from finding ways to cut costs.

"What I realise is that there were very good reasons actually for including those things in the first place and we spent a long time talking about Green Star, and we spent time talking about the car parking," he said.

"We talked at length about the experience and we probably landed in the right place when we talked about it back then."

The majority of councillors voted to proceed with the new museum as planned.

It will mean a total cost of $87 million, with council investing close to $77 million - which would require a 1.54 percent rates rise.

But Mayor Nobby Clark was not ruling out other options.

"We have other sources of revenue available to us. As we get further down this track, we need to think about how we raise funds.

"Now one of the obvious ways is to get more money out of some people who might fund us. Another way is to sell a property we might own that gives us a better return to take that money and invest it in the museum as opposed to leaving it where it currently is."

The new museum is set to open in late 2026.