Infrastructure NSW said it was unable to publicly commit to a new opening date as it would depend on construction completion and fit out. A staged completion is being planned in a manner similar to Sydney Modern, the new building of the Art Gallery of NSW.
Speaking after the delays were discussed at a state budget estimates hearing last Friday, Coalition MP Susan Carter was sceptical that the project would be completed within the new timeline.
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“On present indications I wouldn’t even pencil in a diary date in late 2026 to visit the museum,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Lands and property, Steve Kamper, said the delays were incurred but not announced during the previous government. “We are getting the project back on track. Powerhouse Parramatta will be a must-visit tourism destination in the heart of Parramatta.”
Temperatures and wind conditions need to be ideal to install the building’s steel exoskeleton, a dramatic weight-bearing frame of steel vertical gantries which must be prefabricated and brought in by crane overnight, warranting CBD street closures.
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Currently, two of the largest of the seven exhibition spaces are forecast to be completed early next year, enabling fit-out works to begin as construction continues.
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Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah told the estimates hearing she was not at all concerned by the delay.
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“I feel very confident with the amount of progress that’s been achieved over the past 24 months,” she said. “There have been some rain impacts, but Lendlease has been able to work through those.”
Havilah also defended a 20 per cent annual increase in the institution’s operating budget, bringing its allocation to $127 million this financial year – $10 million more than the Art Gallery of NSW – despite its Ultimo campus shutting for renovations in February and the Parramatta delays.
“Common sense suggests that an operating museum should cost more to run than a museum in mothballs,” Carter said after the estimates hearings.
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“Yet, the Powerhouse has turned this on its head and taxpayers are paying $10 million more for a museum that we can’t go to than for an Art Gallery which we can visit. This budget allocation is difficult to fathom.”
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Havilah told parliament the extra funding supported its ongoing staffing costs, the $6 million cost of removing 3000 objects from the Powerhouse at Ultimo, as well as the development of six major exhibitions at Parramatta.
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