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RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Auckland War Memorial Museum to partially reopen after asbestos discovery forced closure
The museum has been closed since 10 May. Photo: 123RF The Auckland War Memorial Museum will partially reopen next week after an extended closure caused by the discovery of asbestos. The museum has been closed since 10 May when asbestos was found in the ceiling of the original 1929 building. After having a revised fire evacuation procedure approved by Fire and Emergency last week, the museum has now been cleared by Worksafe and Auckland Council to reopen on Tuesday. That would make the incoming King's Birthday weekend the fourth weekend in a row missed during the closure. "I had hoped we would get through for the long weekend but it just wasn't possible," chief executive David Reeves said. "People have been working day and night on this and we just decided it was better to be sure that we can start on Tuesday rather than have a false start over the weekend." Reeves estimated the first stage of the reopening would cover about two thirds of the complex. "It's pretty much the whole of the southern end of the building. So the curved end, for people who know the building," he said. "That's our main foyer, the retail shop, the cafe, the Auckland galleries, the education centre, the Weird and Wonderful [exhibit], and most of the war galleries on the top floor." Work to clean the rest of the museum would take a lot longer, Reeves said. "The 1929 part of the building is just architecturally a much more complex building and it's much more complex for us to devise the appropriate cleaning regime, so it will take a little bit longer because we want to do a good job and not have a stop, start of opening and then needing to close again," he said. "The area around the grand foyer, the original 1929 foyer, and all of the galleries that are immediately adjacent to that space... [That] area we know will be a very much longer job, but the rest we're hoping within a month or two, but it really depends what we discover." He said the 24-day closure had dealt a substantial blow to the museum, but it could've been worse. "We are lucky, if any of this is good luck, that we are between our two overseas international touring shows... So it was going to be a quiet period anyway." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
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.
