The first stage of the site preparation for the new $18 million museum project in Napier is nearly complete as demolition of one building and preparations to shift another are wrapped up - and for some neighbours it means a sparkling new seafront view. Albeit a temporary one.
The graphic designteam at Tracta (formerly Adplus) in Herschell St have been delivered a whole new vista over the past week as demolition crews with Gemco Construction took out the final seafront-facing wall of the old Lilliput and Planetarium building.
"It's brilliant," Tracta's art director Brian Knott said.
"All it needs is some donkeys and deck chairs and we've got Brighton beach."
The distant and unusual sight of sparkling sea and beachfront trees and gardens is a whole lot different to "concrete", Mr Knott said, and the Tracta crew were making the most of it while they could.
"I've moved my computer around so I can look up and see the sea," he said. "You can't buy a view like this."
Work on clearing the site began nearly three weeks ago after safety-security fences were erected around the site and work was now focused on the removal of the old Napier Borough Council building which is getting a new home in Byron St. While the view will disappear over the next year with construction of the new museum and art gallery complex, Mr Knott and his colleagues were okay with that. "We've seen the plans of the new building and it looks great. It will be such a feature for Marine Parade."
