Ninety time capsules found in walls of Tauranga City Council building

Some of the time capsules discovered during the demolition of Tauranga City Council's Willow St building. Photo / Mead Norton

Ninety time capsules have been discovered within the crumbling walls of Tauranga City Council's former CBD building.

The time capsules were found as part of demolition works to the Willow St site, which, until last year, housed the city's main library and council administration and chambers.

Council senior programme manager Beau Fraser said the time capsules were placed in 1989 when the building was built, "with the intention that they would not be open for 100 years".

Inscribed on one of them is the message: "To our future generation, with love."

Fraser said the time capsules were found after contractors removed a wall panel in the rear of the lift shaft room, exposing a small storage space. They were then taken to the city's Heritage Collection facility "and we will be finding a longer-term home for them once the civic precinct is redeveloped".

Some of the time capsules discovered during the demolition of Tauranga City Council's Willow St building. Photo / Mead Norton

Council libraries manager Joanna Thomas said she knew there were time capsules because there was a plaque about them on the wall.

"But none of the current staff or past managers knew exactly where - it took the demolition team to carefully dig them up."

While construction of the building finished in 1989, the time capsule project did not finish until 1990.

Thomas said she had no idea what a time capsule looked like but one of her team was working at Willow St in 1989 and recognised one long plastic tube in the library's safe room as one of the time capsules donated by the spinners and weavers club.

"When the others were dug up we reunited the lost one with the other 89. I was surprised that there were 90 of them."

The time capsules were donated through the Leo Club of Ōtūmoetai.

Demolition began last month and was expected to be completed in October. The removal of the buildings was expected to make way for Te Manawataki o Te Papa, the heartbeat of Te Papa, a new civic precinct.

The new precinct had been prompted after hundreds of council staff were forced to evacuate in 2013 due to the discovery of toxic black mould. The first floor was sealed off for years. Staff effectively worked from satellite offices with some remaining in the library and customer service centre before moving to He Puna Manawa in Devonport Rd last year.

Work continues to demolish Tauranga City Council's old Willow St building. Photo / Mead Norton