14/10/2025
One of our new projects. Getting it done!!
An overnight concrete pour marks the official start of construction on the new base-isolated basement and building at the Canterbury Museum redevelopment site on Rolleston Avenue in central Christchurch.
Last night, Leighs Construction contractors poured the first slab for the outer basement floor, about 13% of the total area. Several more large concrete pours will take place over the next 2 years to create both the outer and the inner basement floors.
The outer basement slab includes pipes that will drain away any water that might seep into the one-metre gap between the two basement floors. It also includes the base plates for the base-isolators.
The Museum’s base-isolated storage basement will cover about 4,600 square metres, from the Rolleston Avenue façade that is currently temporarily propped, to under the Robert McDougall Gallery and the new Duff Wing, bordering the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Work on the new basement and building structure, to be built inside the outer basement now under construction, will start early next year and progressively expand across the site, with completion scheduled for early 2028.
The next stage will be the fit-out of all the buildings, including the strengthened Mountfort buildings and the Gallery, followed by the installation of the new Museum exhibitions and displays in early 2028.