The Court Theatre is the largest production theatre in New Zealand and was moved to a temporary facility in Addington after the Christchurch Earthquakes. Cosgroves is proud to be a part of bringing the Court Theatre back to the city centre where it will form the hub of the performing arts precinct. We have provided significant value to the project through fire, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and civil engineering services. The new court theatre will house a main auditorium, a studio auditorium, and an educational auditorium as well as workshop and administration space. At the heart of the building is a high efficiency air conditioning system using heat recovery technology and a highly insulated façade to ensure that resources can be allocated to the performances as opposed to the operating expenses of the theatre.
The Sir Howard Morrison Centre has established itself as a vibrant and inclusive platform for showcasing Rotorua's rich cultural and artistic experiences. With its striking architectural fusion of Striped Classical and Spanish Mission styles seamlessly intertwined with modern elements, the Centre exudes a distinct charm and versatility. Cosgroves were engaged to provide electrical design services to the refurbishment of the heritage centre. Through its recent enhancements, the venue is poised to rival other premier establishments across New Zealand. It will maintain its role as a dynamic hub, fostering the growth and collaboration of numerous talented performing arts groups in the local Rotorua community.
Prior to the Christchurch Earthquake, the Canterbury Museum began a major ‘revitalisation’ project and Cosgroves has provided fire engineering services to the Museum from 2005. The Cosgroves Fire Engineering team has been pivotal to the maintained operation of the Museum. Some key design features include design to allow areas of the building’s sprinkler and alarm systems to be isolated during structural upgrade and refurbishment and enhanced fire protection to minimise risk to rare collectibles. From 2020, we have been engaged to provide all services; Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic and Fire Engineering to the redevelopment of the Canterbury Museum. The dismantling and closing of the Canterbury Museum started in April 2023, with the fit-out of a new museum estimated to take up to five years to complete.
The Christchurch Town Hall was severely damaged following the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch Earthquakes. The Christchurch City Council elected to repair and refurbish the building at which stage Cosgroves were retained to provide the electrical building services. There was a significant amount of new cable installed in the building which cannot be seen. It all had to be carefully designed to be concealed within both the new and existing structures to minimise the impact on the heritage-listed building. Therefore, the design and construction of the electrical services had to be to a very high standard, so we provided a much higher level of contract observation throughout the construction.