Latest news with #AucklandMuseum
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Auckland War Memorial Museum likely to stay closed for at least one more week, losing around $19,000 a day
Auckland War Memorial Museum was forced to close after asbestos was discovered. Photo: 123RF Auckland War Memorial Museum says it is likely to stay closed for at least another week. It has been almost two weeks since asbestos was discovered at the museum, forcing it closed. A spokesperson for Fire and Emergency said it received the museum's revised fire evacuation scheme on Wednesday and had approved it on Thursday morning. But the museum's chief executive, David Reeves, said that was just one of the two issues that needed resolving before it could reopen. "The other one is the full cleaning and approval by WorkSafe for as much of the building as we can in order to open safely," he said. "That will likely be another week, it may even be longer. It just depends on what our licensed asbestos removalist firm advises, but we're working as quickly as we can." That would make at least three weeks without visitors or donations. "It's around $19,000 a day [in lost revenue], and that's made up of a whole range of things we're not able to earn by way of ticket sales, carparks, retail, venue hire, and incidental donations from members of the public," Reeves explained. "It would be [worrying] if it was for much longer, but we have a really strong balance sheet and we are able to sustain this - $19,000 a day isn't insignificant, but for a short period we are able to readjust other expenditure." But he assured that staff were continuing to work and being paid in full. "We've got an off-site office in Newmarket and also lots of people are able to work from home. There is absolutely plenty of work for people to do and we're all fully employed," he said. "We do have some casual staff and we have paid them for the shifts they were already rostered onto, but obviously forward rosters are affected for them, but we are hoping to get back up and running really as quickly as possible." Members of the public who had paid for an annual membership would also be compensated, Reeves said. "We've automatically extended everybody's membership renewal date by one month, and if we end up being closed for longer than that we'll look at that again." More to come... Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Auckland War Memorial Museum closure: 'We are working as quickly as we can'
The Auckland War Memorial Museum has been closed to the public for more than a week. File photo. Photo: 123RF The Auckland War Memorial Museum has been closed to the public for more than a week. File photo. Photo: Auckland Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum is hoping to open part of the building within days, as it loses thousands of dollars daily after being forced to close because of an asbestos scare. The museum has been closed since 10 May , after asbestos dust was found in Te Marae Ātea Māori Court and the Pacific Galleries. It was then discovered in the Grand Foyer - a major evacuation route for the building. The museum has been waiting on Fire and Emergency to review and approve an alternative exit before it can reopen. The museum usually collects more than $2500 a day, with international adult visitors paying a $32 entry fee. Auckland Museum chief executive David Reeves told Checkpoint a contamination report had been received today. "It's a comprehensive look at what we are dealing with, which is samples of more than 500 sites across the complex museum building, and gives us the raw material for a proper clean up plan." He said he was hopeful this would lead to a staged reopening of the museum, "hopefully in a short number of days or weeks". Reeves said the contamination did not look too bad. "But any contamination must be dealt with seriously, so hoping a clean up plan will be pretty straightforward." The museum has been conducting nearly 200 air monitoring tests day and night since becoming aware of the issue and Reeves said all the sites were all within the legal threshold for safe occupancy. He said museum staff would go over the new report in the next day or two, and work with a licensed asbestos removalist to find out how long it was going to take. "We really want to get our wonderful museum back open to the public, and we are working as quickly as we can to do that." The museum still needs the alternative evacuation route signed off by Fire and Emergency to avoid people going through the exclusion zone. Reeves said Fire and Emergency "understand the urgency of the situation". The museum employs about 300 staff, with many now working from an off-site office in Newmarket, while a small number of staff are still in the main museum to do the planning for the removal and provide security. Reeves said all staff were still occupied with training schemes and other tasks. "Nobody is getting a holiday or a break, we're busy." But he said the museum staff understood the frustration from the public. "It frustrates all the staff that we're not able to open the doors and do the job that we love doing. We are working as quickly as we can, but we must do it methodically, we must do it safely, I really don't want to rush this and open and find that we've tripped up and have to close again." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Auckland Museum forced to shut doors after asbestos care
Auckland War Memorial Museum is is losing thousands of dollars a day after being forced to close its doors because an asbestos scare. It's been closed since the tenth of May after the asbestos dust was found in Te Marae Atea Maori Court and the Pacific Galleries. Following swab tests it was discovered in the Grand Foyer - which makes things more complicated because that is a major evacuation route. Chief Executive of Auckland Museum, David Reeves spoke to Lisa Owen. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
13-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Auckland's Desley Simpson calls for urgency to fix War Memorial Museum after asbestos discovered
Auckland War Memorial Museum. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Auckland's deputy mayor is calling for urgency from Fire and Emergency (FENZ) as the Auckland War Memorial Museum haemorrhages tens of thousands of dollars in lost ticket sales. The museum has been closed since Saturday after asbestos was found in a critical fire exit , requiring FENZ to approve an alternative exit before members of the public are allowed back. Meanwhile, deputy mayor Desley Simpson said the museum was missing out on thousands of ticket sales. "This is a real problem for the museum, they average about 2600 visitors a day," she said. "Some of those are obviously Aucklanders who don't pay, but our visitors to the city who love going to museums... They've lost probably $8000 a day for admissions, over four days of course that's $32,000." Simpson said the lost revenue was "getting a bit scary," and urged FENZ to prioritise a solution. "So, urgency from FENZ to get an agreement with the museum on their emergency fire exit is really, really important because we do need our Auckland War Memorial Museum open as soon as possible," she said. There was no indication how long that could take, but Simpson hoped it would be a matter of days. "The timeline for me is 'as soon as possible', but it has to be a an agreed plan." A spokesperson for Auckland Museum said it was yet to receive an update from FENZ. RNZ has approached Fire and Emergency for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
09-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Auckland War Memorial Museum closed after asbestos discovery
Auckland War Memorial Museum. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Auckland War Memorial Museum says specialists will be working to remove asbestos dust this weekend after its discovery during renewal work. It has closed its doors to the public for the entire weekend. The dust was found in Te Marae Ātea Māori Court and the Pacific galleries during heritage work investigations. More was found in the Grand Foyer after subsequent swab testing. "Given the Grand Foyer is a primary evacuation route, its closure means the museum must establish alternative evacuation procedures," the museum said in a statement. "Buildings of the museum's age commonly contain historic building materials that include asbestos. As the building nears 100 years of age, there are several necessary heritage works underway to enable us to preserve it for future generations. It is through the preliminary investigations into these works that the asbestos was discovered. While the building is closed, the museum said it would review its fire evacuation procedures. "Museum facilities will continue to be monitored by essential security and facilities management staff." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
