City Gallery Wellington upgrades

We completed a broad range of seismic strengthening works and upgrades at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi. The main scope involved strengthening the interior walls in the Historic Place Category 2 building, installing a new roof membrane, and replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

We completed a number of other upgrades while the gallery was closed for the structural work, installing new gallery display walls, reconfiguring the internal gallery entrances, installing skylights in the reading room and infilling the first-floor void, upgrading the goods lift, upgrading the accessible toilets, redecorating the office spaces and re-paving the cafe terrace.

We consulted on the seismic works from the design stage, suggesting that instead of strengthening the seismically deficient unreinforced masonry interior walls, we should remove them and build lightweight steel framed replacements. This resulted in a more seismically resilient outcome and removed any uncertainty about how long the work would take.

The upgrades leave City Gallery Wellington safe, dry, compliant and with a stable interior environment, ensuring it maintains its place as a world-class exhibition space.