| 29 Karen Phelps Gallery revamp a boon for area The project will involve a rebuild of the current gallery building on its existing site to deliver additional space for exhibition, storage, workshops and administration. Kapiti Coast District Council: Crowe Construction - Mahara Gallery REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The redevelopment of Waikanae’s Mahara Gallery will have a significant impact on drawing visitors to the region and create positive flow-on effects for the local community, says Kapiti Coast District Council manager of the project management office Alison Law. The project has largely been instigated to provide a place for the nationally significant Field Collection, comprising forty-four important artworks and documents to be viewed publically, that until now have been in storage. “The project will help to invigorate Waikanae’s town centre with landscaping around the building forming a plaza linking the gallery to the town centre,” says Alison. “It’s a district wide art gallery so this project is exciting for the district as a whole. Everyone in the art world in particular is really excited the Field Collection will be on display.” The Mahara Gallery is housed in a council-owned building in Mahara Place, Waikanae and is administered by the Mahara Gallery Trust. Alison says the passion and drive of the Trust was key in achieving the project with the Trust securing a significant portion of the funding from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Regional Culture and Heritage Fund. Aside from this and the Council contribution (including $250,000 from the Waikanae Community Board), the Mahara Gallery Trust Board has raised more than $4 million dollars, including a grant from the NZ Lottery Board’s Environment and Heritage Fund for $450,000. The project will involve a rebuild of the current gallery building on its existing site to deliver additional space for exhibition, storage, workshops, and administration as well as upgrading those spaces to museum standard to house the collection. The project will double the number of exhibition galleries and almost treble the exhibition space and Alison says this will also enable the gallery to attract and show significant touring exhibitions and collections from other galleries. Alison says local iwi Te Ātiawa Ki Whakarongotai has been an integral part of the project “The project will help to invigorate Waikanae’s town centre with landscaping around the building forming a plaza linking the gallery to the town centre.” from its inception to ensure the building and surrounding landscape tells their story. A special dawn ceremony took place at Mahara Gallery in early February 2022 and a mauri stone, from Waiorua Bay on Kāpiti Island, was laid. Alison says a mauri stone acknowledges the life force of the building and the ancestors who inhabited the area in days gone by. It blesses the site and represents the essence of the work that will be conducted in the gallery in future. It is laid into the earth before the building foundations are constructed and although they are usually not seen after they’re laid, this one will be visible through a transparent covering. Iwi carvers will complete work for the entry to the building. Kapiti Coast District Council project manager Rowan Cordwell says council has been fortunate to be working with Crowe Construction on the project that have expertly managed it every step of the way. “Crowe identified early on what materials could be problematic to secure during the project, bought them early and stored them on site,” he explains. At peak the project will have around 20 people working on site along with multiple consultants involved behind the scenes. Designed by Wellington based Athfield Architects, the project is earmarked for completion in March 2023 and will be opened to the public later in the year. ROOFING PROFESSIONALS SCOTTS ROOFING WILL ENSURE YOUR ROOFING PROJECT IS DONE ON TIME & ON BUDGET METAL ROOFS ROOF REPLACEMENT MEMBRANE ROOFING COMMERCIAL ROOFING scott@scottsroofing.net 020 41567035 GET IN TOUCH At RD Gas and Plumbing we pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service and quality tradesmanship. 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