Working to protect Christchurch Art Gallery from earthquakes ‘too expensive and unnecessary’

Spending $11.8 million in taxpayer money to protect the Robert McDougall Art Gallery from earthquakes shows the city council has “more money than meaning,” one council member claims.

The Canterbury Museum, which is renting the gallery in the Botanic Gardens from Christchurch City Council, wants to put basic insulation under the building and museum as part of its $195 million redevelopment.

Museum director Anthony Wright said additional protection is required because the museum would otherwise not be able to adequately secure the buildings and collectibles because the cost of premiums would be prohibitive.

The board decided this week to award $11.8 million as part of its 10-year budget, the long-term plan.

Read more: *Council members watch as Mayor of Christchurch *Canterbury Museum renovation will ‘steal’ McDougall gallery, founder’s grandson says *Extended redevelopment planned for Canterbury Museum

But there was strong opposition from members of the council, and only the vote, from eight to seven, was passed.

Council members Tim Scandrett, Mike Davidson, James Goff, Sam MacDonald, Catherine Cho, Phil Mauger and Aaron Keown voted against it.

Mayor Leanne Dalziel, Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner, Jimmy Chin, Melanie Coker, Pauline Cotter, Yanni Johansson, Jake McClellan and Sarah Templeton supported.

Crs Anne Galloway and James Daniel did not participate in the voting or discussion because they are members of the Museum’s board of directors.

supplied

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery was designed in 1929.

The museum plans to use the gallery, which has been largely empty since 2002, to display heritage art collections. It also wants to build a spacious storage under the gallery and museum to house the 2.3 million items in its collection.

But Gough said that retrofitting existing heritage buildings with basic insulation was “too expensive,” and he was convinced the cost would explode dramatically.

He questioned the need for earthquake resistance to fully redevelop the museum.

“It would be the most expensive storage known to man. Only build a chest if it must be insulated from the base, don’t modify heritage buildings to do so unless you have more money than meaning.

Base insulation involves placing energy-absorbing rubber bearings or pads between the foundations of the building and the structure above, reducing the impact of an earthquake.

Skandret said he doesn’t think the council needs to spend that amount of money when the rest of the museum is sequestered.

Things

The Canterbury Museum has evolved over the past 150 years. (The video was first posted on October 9, 2020).

Davidson said he supported reusing the gallery and opening it up, but he doesn’t think the building needs basic insulation to be used again.

Cotter said the isolation of the base was not just for storage use, it was so the building could be used as an art gallery again.

She said there was no better time to do this job.

Dalziel said she is not entirely convinced that it is in the council’s interest to sequester the building.

“I think it’s an incredible amount of money.”

John Kirk Anderson/Staff/Staff

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery was damaged in the September 2010 earthquake.

However, the Board recommended spending the money and then voted in favor because the majority of requests made on this issue supported the work and Board members supported the proposal.

During the vote, Gough interjected, “This is unbelievable…that is terrifying for any commuter in town.”

The board will only release the money if the museum raises the funding it needs for redevelopment.

After the meeting, Wright said base insulation was recognized as the international industry standard and was the best way to protect people, museum buildings and collections in active seismic areas.

Without it, he said, the museum would also not be able to attract and host national and international temporary exhibitions containing valuable and fragile objects.

“The core insulation will also allow us to create a large storage facility in the basement where we currently have to use off-site storage, particularly for large assembly items like waka, stagecoaches and cars.”

The gallery was permanently closed after being damaged in the September 2010 earthquake. It is now rated at less than 35 percent of the new building standard, but basic insulation work will push it to 100 percent.

The Christchurch Art Gallery received Basic Solitude, at a cost of $22 million, about six years ago. It now stands on 140 energy absorbing bearings which allow it to move 60 cm in all directions in the event of an earthquake.

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