The Sarjeant recently received a bequest of $850,000 from the estate of Jonathan Preston, a sheep farmer from Raetihi, who died four years ago aged 90.
Another bequest of $200,000 was received from the estate of well-known Whanganui figure Eleanor Burgess.
Burgess previously donated to Bushy Park Tarapuruhi, James McGregor Memorial Park and Rotokawau Virginia Lake.
That money will go to the gallery’s endowment fund, which funds the art acquisitions, ongoing restoration work of the collection, travelling exhibitions and education programmes.
Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig said cost escalation was a risk and asked Batty if it could be controlled.
Batty said there was an intensive review of risk items every two months. Some had been mitigated.
“Others are still coming forward, such as minor issues around the dome that were unexpected,” Batty said.
“Generally, within the high, medium and low-risk [cost forecasts], we have everything we know of covered.”
The $68.378m figure is the medium-range forecast.
Councillor Rob Vinsen said there was a lot of scepticism in the community about the construction completion date of March next year.
Batty said the date had been looked at thoroughly with contractor McMillan & Lockwood, as had any “blockers”.
“At every site meeting, we are looking at any measures we can to ensure there are no barriers to moving it forward.”
There were up to 70 people on-site at present, Batty said.
McMillans had added to its workforce to complete the Gib.
“They are working Saturdays, and subcontractors are also working on Saturdays when required.”
Batty’s report said fabrication of the timber hull for the gallery’s waka air bridge was advancing off-site. The hull would be carved by Tupoho.
Construction of partitioning walls was advancing at all levels of the new Te Pātaka o Sir Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa wing and the structure for the link building was fully installed.
Entry stairs and bridge steelwork were ready to be installed and strapping and lining had commenced inside the gallery spaces of the existing building.
One possible stumbling block was archaeological finds as work progressed.
Batty’s report said processing and documentation time for finds “may exceed limitations of the authority”.
“Once all of the material has been unearthed and brought back to the site of the archaeologist, all of it needs to be processed and a report furnished.
“Our concern is that there is a huge amount more material uncovered than what was anticipated.”
The redevelopment team was working with Heritage New Zealand to formulate a plan around reporting and costs, she said.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
