Auckland War Memorial Museum has reopened this morning after its closure last month caused by the detection of asbestos.
The museum had been closed since May 10 after asbestos was discovered on the roof and in a ceiling cavity in the original 1929 part of the building.
The building is set to reopen in stages from today, with the first stage encompassing around two-thirds of the museum.
Sections of the north side – including Te Marae Ātea Māori Court, Pacific Galleries and the Grand Foyer – will remain closed while asbestos remediation work continues.
Air monitoring will be ongoing throughout the building to reassure staff and visitors that the reopened spaces were safe.
A revised fire evacuation procedure that had been approved by Fire and Emergency NZ enabled the staged reopening.
‘Challenging few weeks’
Chief executive David Reeves said it had been a “challenging few weeks”.
“We’re excited to now be able partially reopen the museum. We look forward to welcoming our community back into the building.”
The closure had impacted the museum’s revenue, but the partial reopening would begin to mitigate this, Reeves said, adding that staff had been given “complete reassurance” of safety.
“We want our visitors to feel the same confidence when they walk in the door, we wouldn’t open unless it was absolutely safe to do so.”
The neoclassical building in the Auckland Domain, constructed in the 1920s and ’50s, was one of the country’s busiest sites. There were 889,808 visitors to the museum the 2023/23 year despite several closures due to weather events.
Buildings of the museum’s age commonly contained historic building materials that included asbestos.
Asbestos was first detected at the museum in December last year on the roof in a space which is not publicly accessible.
In March, more asbestos was discovered during investigative work in the original 1929 part of the building in preparation for the renewal of Te Marae Ātea Māori Court and the Pacific galleries.
Static asbestos dust and debris was located in the void area above Te Marae Ātea Māori Court and on a ledge below perimeter vents.
The area was closed on April 14 to allow for specialists to conduct further investigations in preparation for the removal.
Positive results were returned at the Pacific Lifeways and Pacific Masterpieces galleries earlier this month, with staff advised to close the galleries last Wednesday.
On May 9, subsequent testing returned more positive results in the Grand Foyer, necessitating the closure of the space.
“Closing the Grand Foyer impacts our ability to safely evacuate large groups of visitors from the building in an emergency, which is why the Museum was closed to the public from 10 May until further notice while we consulted with a fire engineer on a reviewed fire evacuation procedure,” a museum spokesperson said.
Further tests were carried out in areas outside of the initial 1929 building, including some back-of-house areas.