A gallery closed since the 2011 Christchurch earthquake will reopen to the public on 19 December after a NZ$56.7m (US$37.1m, €34.1m, £24m) repair project is completed.

With work scheduled to finish on 11 December, art will start to be installed in the gallery in September, once a climate control system has been running for 10 days. While the main gallery will be business as usual come December, the facility’s underground car park will still be closed, as will the gallery shop and café, all of which were heavily damaged in the 6.3 magnitude quake.

Some confusion surrounding the opening date has arisen recently after Christchurch City Council said the earthquake-damaged gallery would not be reopened until the first quarter of 2016. This was however an error, according to the gallery’s director, Jenny Harper, who said her team was “working round the clock” to make the December target a reality.

The ugrades, budgeted by the council, include repair work and strengthening of the Buchan Group-designed art gallery, which has been re-levelled and retrofitted with base isolation. It’s been an ongoing task for contractors as more earthquake damage is discovered, putting pressure on finances and the project’s completion date.

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