Invercargill City Council’s Project 1225 is bringing a new museum, tuatara enclosure and storage facility to Invercargill and Murihiku. 

Through the 2021-2031 Long-term Plan consultation, Council heard from the community that reopening the museum, which closed in 2018, was important to the city. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Councillors considered the best options for the future - to refurbish the current Southland Museum and Art Gallery, or to completely rebuild.

In 2022, Council made the decision to invest in building a new museum at the same site at Queens Park. As part of the project, Council will also build a new enclosure for the tuatara at Queens Park, as well as a dedicated storage facility for the museum collection at Tisbury.

In December 2022 the museum redevelopment was dubbed Project 1225, reflecting Council’s intention to deliver the base build of the new museum by December 2025.

Council’s total investment for Project 1225 is $54.5 million, which includes $500,000 for the tuatara facility and $10.26m for the Tisbury storage facility (2022/23 Annual Plan). The budget committed to for the full project is $65.5m. Council will be seeking external funding for this project. This includes the $500,000 from the ILT Group that has already been granted (read more).