In 2022, Invercargill City Council made the decision to invest in building a new museum at the site of the current Southland Museum and Art Gallery as a new build rather than a refurbishment.

As part of the project, Council will also build a new enclosure for the tuatara at Queens Park, as well as a dedicated storage facility for the museum collection at Tisbury.

Council’s total investment for Project 1225 is $54.5 million, which includes $500,000 for the tuatara facility and $10.26m for the Tisbury storage facility to protect taonga not always on display. The budget committed to for the full project is $65.5m.

The first draft concept designs for Invercargill’s new museum have been revealed.

Council will receive the concept designs for final approval, and have decided to name the build Te Unua Museum of Southland.

Invercargill City Council Group Manager Infrastructure Erin Moogan said she was blown away by the unique design of the building.

“They have delivered well above the brief. This building has the ‘wow’ factor we were looking for when we started imagining the new museum.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get things right and they have well and truly hit the nail on the head.”