Sarjeant Gallery director Greg Anderson pictured talking about funding in 2016. Photo / Bevan Conley
Sarjeant Gallery director Greg Anderson pictured talking about funding in 2016. Photo / Bevan Conley
A redeveloped Sarjeant Gallery will cost more to run - but that cost is still unknown.
The current Sarjeant on the Quay costs $2.5 million a year to run, director Greg Anderson said, but council debt servicing, depreciation and overheads make up about $800,000 of that.
"What we spend iscloser to the budgeted $1.7m, and we have actually spent less."
The gallery also earns income - from hiring out space for small functions, from its shop takings, from touring exhibitions and from Creative Communities funding to run the Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence programme.
The cost of running an enlarged gallery when it reopens was estimated in Whanganui District Council's 2018-28 Long Term Plan. But Anderson said the numbers have to be reconfigured due to the gallery's later opening and its associated costs.
Revised estimates will go into the next long-term plan, and he doesn't want to guess at the amount.
"We are about to enter a significant amount of research," he said.
The enlarged gallery will also have more ways to earn income - a bigger shop, a proposed cafe, more hireable spaces and the potential to host touring exhibitions.
It may need more staff. The council's June 2019 economic impact report said the redevelopment would create 153 new jobs - it is not clear how many of those will be within the building.
Eventual staff numbers are also yet to be decided, Anderson said.
The estimated cost of the earthquake strengthening and extension project increased from $35m in 2016 to $49.3m this year.
Ground work is under way for an extension to the Sarjeant Gallery. Photo / Supplied
The construction contracts for the old and new buildings total $42m. The extra cost is for design, project management, insurance and consents, project director Gaye Batty said.
Whanganui District Council had agreed to pay for any contingencies - unexpected expenses - but any extra costs have now been covered by $12m from the Provincial Growth Fund, announced on July 3.
The large and complex project has many layers of oversight, Anderson said.
The council's Sarjeant Gallery Redevelopment Advisory Committee is chaired by councillor Kate Joblin, and includes councillor Graeme Young. The council has also appointed David Warburton and Brian Walden to it.
It has recommended that the committee consider appointing industry experts Paul Bayly and/or Phil Barron to serve on it as required.
