DCC Reveals Plans For Old Art Gallery

The DCC is to apply for a Resource Consent which would allow it to modify the old Art Gallery building at Logan Park.

The Council wants to extend the size of the adjacent University Oval cricket ground to Test status and a Resource Consent to remove part of the old Gallery is required to facilitate this.

The Resource Consent option, which is an alternative to original proposals to demolish or relocate the complex, has been discussed with NZHPT whose stance is “supportive of” the modifications outlined in the application.

Part of the application, which has been described as satisfying the needs of both DCC and NZHPT and the various stakeholders by preserving most of the original building on its 1925 site, would also involve significant changes to the Sargood Wing, which was a later addition at the northern end of the old Art Gallery.

The building has been the subject of a Conservation Assessment, the main elements of which will be incorporated into a plan to guide the project and its future management.

The modification will assist Otago Cricket who will gain a playing area which meets the requirements for fixtures against all the major Test cricket playing countries. The new ground will have similar dimensions to the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

The Resource Consent application is proposed to be lodged by the DCC on Thursday 1 April 2010.