The Whakatāne Museum and Research Centre will be closed from early in 2017 until mid-2018, to allow a major redevelopment of the Boon Street facility to proceed.

In approving project funding for the redevelopment last week, the Whakatāne District Council also agreed to the closure of the facility to allow a number of key operational projects to be undertaken in support of the redevelopment. These include auditing collections; processing of a backlog of receipted collection items; relocation of the Museum’s 700,000 collection items while construction work is undertaken; and the digitisation of collection records.

Council Community Services Manager Paula Chapman says the closure will allow staff to safely store collection items and prepare for the new levels of service the redeveloped facility will provide. "We appreciate that this will create some difficulties for the individuals and organisations which use the Museum for research purposes and will work with stakeholders to minimise the impacts," she says. "During the closure, we’ll make the photographic collection available to users at Te Kōputu – the Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre – and photographic requests will continue to be processed throughout the closure period."

When the redeveloped facility opens, it will provide purpose-built research and education facilities and enhanced online and physical access to the Museum collection, as well as significantly improved climate control and enlarged collection storage capabilities.