Past, present, and future
Construction has officially begun on Canterbury Museum’s new base-isolated basement and building.
Last month, contractors poured the first concrete slab for the outer basement floor at the Rolleston Avenue site. This marked a major step in the redevelopment project, which is reshaping the Museum for generations to come.
The new base-isolated storage basement will protect the collection of more than 2.3 million taonga (treasures) and support a new five-level building housing new and old exhibitions and displays.
Several more large concrete pours will take place over the next two years to create both the outer and the inner basement floors.
The outer basement slab includes pipes that will drain away any water that might seep into the one-metre gap between the two basement floors. It also includes the base plates for the base-isolators.
The Museum’s base-isolated storage basement will cover about 4,600sqm extending from the Rolleston Avenue façade, which is currently temporarily propped, to beneath the Robert McDougall Gallery and the new Duff Wing, bordering the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Work on the storage basement and building structure – to be built inside the outer basement – will start early next year and progressively expand across the site, with completion scheduled for early 2028.
The next stage will be the fit-out of all the buildings, including the strengthened Mountfort buildings and Gallery. After that, Museum staff will start installing the new Museum exhibitions and displays.
Museum Tumuaki Director Anthony Wright says he’s really pleased to see the plans for the new basement and building become a reality. “But that’s nowhere near as exciting as the exhibitions and displays that Museum staff are developing to fill the new structure.
“Nearly half of the exhibition spaces are now progressing through various stages of design, and three are ready to move into production. It’s a joy to see the new Museum visitor experience take shape, and we’re looking forward to sharing that with visitors when we reopen in mid-2029.”
There’s still a lot of concrete to pour, but Waitaha Canterbury’s new Museum will soon start rising from the ground. Behind the scenes, the Museum team is crafting exhibitions that will inspire, and spark curiosity and wonder. When the doors reopen, visitors won’t just see a new building. They’ll step into a whole new experience.
In the meantime, the Canterbury Museum Pop-Up at 66 Gloucester Street displays highlights from the collection and visitor favourites, including the horse from the Christchurch Street and the Antarctic Ski-Doo, along with temporary exhibitions. The popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum, London, is on until 9 February. Visitors can see the 100 best animal images, from around the world, entered in the annual competition, which is now in its 60th year. The pop-up Museum is open daily from 9am to 5.30pm. Admission is free, and donations are appreciated.
There’s also plenty more to follow online, with canterburymuseum.com covering up-to-date news on the Museum redevelopment and what’s on at the pop-up Museum.