The $330 million redevelopment of the Wellington Town Hall is nearing the pointy end of the project, 12 years on from when it was shut down.
The performance venue has been shut since 2013 due to its earthquake risk, with its strengthening and redevelopment being subject to several cost blowouts.
It has risen in cost from $43 million to $330m with the main driver of that being money needed to deal with the reclaimed coastal land the 125-year-old building sits on.
It was also revealed last week that items inside the building were being sold off with a cabinet containing confidential council documents.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
RNZ was given a tour of the project as it nears completion.
Wellington City Council senior project manager Gervais Lawrie said earthquake strengthening the building's basement was one of their biggest challenges.
Lawrie said that included sheet piling which involved driving steel, interlocked sheets into the ground to keep out water and soil and base isolators which are rubber plates that separate the building from the ground in an earthquake.
Gervais Lawrie says earthquake strengthening the building's basement was one of their biggest challenges. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Naylor Love quantity surveyor Jacqui O'Donnell said workers had to dig down to the original shoreline which sits under the Town Hall.
"We joked a lot about it because we would talk about the river that was running through the basement at one point.
"It literally looked like a river, so it was probably about two metres wide, and it was continual ocean flowing through."
O'Donnell said that water had to be redirected to carry out the works that needed to be done.
Naylor Love quantity surveyor Jacqui O'Donnell says workers had to dig down to the original shoreline which sits under the Town Hall. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Lawrie told RNZ part of the basement will be used by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to record performances performed in the building's main auditorium above.
"NZSO are building a control room in here so it kind of looks likes Star Trek, there are big banks of dials and knobs and television screens."
Upstairs the sound of industrial sanders putting their finishing touches on the main auditorium filled the air.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Council project director Paul Perniskie said they tried to keep as much of the building's heritage as possible.
"The ceiling above of us is the original, choir stools, elements of the floor are old and new but we have tried to match it the best we can."
While many of the building's heritage elements have been unearthed not all its secrets have been uncovered.
Lawrie said that a time capsule was meant to be in the building, but despite some searching for it, it was never found.
The Town Hall is expected to open in 2027.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
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