17 February 2023
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Re-opening of the Sir Howard Morrison Centre
Enquiry
I’ll be covering the opening of the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre this week and wanted to ask the below questions:
Can the council please confirm the final cost for the restoration of the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre?
How much of this was funded by Rotorua Lakes ratepayers?
We understand the original budget set in 2017 was $17.9m.
Response
From DCE – Community Wellbeing, Anaru Pewhairangi
Can the council please confirm the final cost for the restoration of the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre? $36.5m is the forecast final cost. This is within the approved final budget for the project and includes additional external funding that has been secured. The building is a Category One listed building with historic significance so Council chose to restore it rather than build a new performing arts centre (which was estimated to cost c$80M in 2017).
How much of this was funded by Rotorua Lakes ratepayers?
$11.9m (33%) funded externally and $24.6m (67%) funded by Council. We are grateful for the generous gift from long-time friend of Sir Howard, Sir Owen Glenn who provided $3M for the Sir Owen Glenn / Matangi Rau theatre and to the trusts and foundations who have supported this project.
We understand the original budget set in 2017 was $17.9m.
This is correct. However, the early estimates were priced prior to a detailed building investigation and design. As such, the original project scope did not include the unknown challenges uncovered during testing and construction around the building’s condition, in particular significant façade and structural issues that drove a major budget variation. It was also provided prior to market-pricing and with no way of forecasting the impact of COVID-19 on production delays and construction cost inflation.