Planning a new Performing Arts Centre - 2016-2018
In March 2016 the Hamilton City Council closed the Founders Theatre for safety reasons. The cost of its repair, with no significant modernisation, was then estimated at $25 million.
Momentum Waikato then approached the Council in July 2016 and proposed to replace Founders with a new Waikato Regional Theatre (WRT), including taking on the initial project management and fundraising required.
The Council agreed and soon after Momentum formed the Waikato Regional Theatre Governance Panel. Its first task, in partnership with international theatre designers Charcoalblue, was to review potential sites, which was completed and delivered as the WRT Location Report in May 2017.
The 25 locations initially considered included the University, Hamilton Gardens, Claudelands Event Centre and various spots in the CBD. The Founders site was seriously considered but didn’t score highly on a number of counts, most critically for not fulfilling the Council’s established urban design and zoning goals.
A short list of seven sites were then further investigated, including upper Grantham St and Garden Place. The preferred location was finally identified as the Hamilton Hotel site on the South End of Victoria St, at the heart of the city’s ‘creative precinct’.
In August 2017 the WRT Phase One Design Report was produced by Charcoalblue and NZ architects Jasmax. It describes the parameters and considerations for building a world-class theatre on the Hamilton Hotel site capable of hosting international calibre performing arts events.
This proposal was then presented at public and stakeholder consultation meetings run by Creative Waikato and The Stakeholder Agency later in 2017. Feedback on functionality, accessibility, location and the benefits to the wider community was recorded, and just over 200 people then made formal written submissions, all of which was subsequently published in the WRT Consultation Summary.
During that process Andy Hayles, Charcoalblue’s London Managing Partner, presented to a couple of hundred locals at The Atrium at Wintec in October 2017, outlining their track record and the WRT proposal in his WRT presentation slideshow.
That consultation process informed changes then made to the Theatre plans in Charcoalblue’s subsequent WRT Concept Design Report and Presentation released in March 2018, the most significant being expanding its seating capacity to 1300.
Meanwhile, in October 2017 the Theatre project had received its first formal financial commitment, with Trust Waikato granting $15 million. Following the delivery of the WRT Concept Design Report and a presentation to the councils, the HCC formally committed the $25 million it would have spent on a Founders repair, and the Waikato Regional Council then added $5 million in June 2018.
The WRT Preliminary Design Report was completed in August 2018, which provided the detailed plans required for consenting and tendering. This was followed in December 2018 by the Developed Design Report and Presentation, which provided the final detailed renderings for the Theatre’s design.
Gathering the resources and overcoming the challenges - 2019-2021
The Waikato Regional Property Trust (WRPT), which now owns the Theatre, was founded in October 2018, replacing the Theatre Governance Panel, with several members of that group crossing over to the new entity.
Through 2019 the focus was on the resource and building consents, securing sponsorship pledges from local businesses, and negotiating the central government portion of the funding.
In November 2019 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced to a crowd of supporters in Embassy Park adjacent to the site that the Provincial Growth Fund was putting $12 million into the construction of the Theatre. This meant the preliminary fundraising target of $69 million had been reached and the project was now ‘live’.
The WRPT then formally started the procurement processes for construction. Fosters Group was awarded the contract at the end of March 2020, but the following Covid lockdowns then delayed the development of the build budget.
Meanwhile, as required by the Heritage Act element of the resource consent process, Heritage New Zealand approved the plan to retain the Hamilton Hotel frontage, while rebuilding everything behind it, and retaining and reinstalling a number of the building’s heritage elements.
However, on the key archaeological matter, Heritage NZ initially declined the authority to proceed due to uncertainty on the clearance between the Theatre and the Hua o te Atua urupaa on the adjacent riverbank, a ruling made because the area of the pre-colonisation cemetery was insufficiently defined in the city’s District Plan.
Momentum Waikato had been engaged with mana whenua hapu Ngaati Wairere since 2017, via the representative groups Te Haa o Te Whenua o Kirikiriroa (THaWK) and Nga Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa (NaMToK), and that Heritage NZ decision led to formal negotiations involving all the parties.
In June 2020 NaMToK carried out a tapu-lifting ceremony on the site and options for a way forward were tabled. Early in these talks with the mana whenua and Heritage NZ, the WRPT decided to move the Theatre’s footprint eight meters to the west, towards Victoria St and away from the riverbank.
This move satisfied Heritage NZ that any risk to the urupaa had been removed. Despite this, NaMToK then appealed this decision in the Environment Court, to dispute that THaWK were authorised representatives of Ngaati Wairere as mana whenua.
The court’s response was that it was up to the hapuu itself to decide which group spoke for it and that Momentum and the WRPT had properly consulted both THaWK and NaMToK. The ensuing discussions led to a legal resolution just before Christmas 2020, with all parties agreeing on the site-specific issues.
Pressing go on the site work – 2021
Moving the building away from the river required the resource and building consents to be revisited, which was completed in February 2021.
Only then were the WRPT and Fosters able to enter into negotiations on the construction price and the final plans, a process that culminated with the signing of the construction contract in August 2021, with an updated total project cost of $80 million.
Site work got underway in September 2021, with a site office established and perimeter fences going up. Demolition of the modern shops on Victoria Street and the dismantling of Embassy Park, including the removal of the Riff Raff statue, following soon after.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern then returned to the Theatre site in November 2021 to perform the project’s official Sod Turning.
Construction 2022-2025
Site preparation began with the systematic ‘soft stripping’ of heritage items and native timbers from within the Hamilton Hotel, for re-use in the new complex. Satellite buildings were removed, with the resulting excavations under the watchful eye of the mana whenua and Heritage NZ.
A large steel frame was installed to support the old Hotel’s French ‘Beaux Arts’ façade in early 2022, the largest such retention ever carried out in the Waikato, allowing the remainder of the building behind it to be demolished.
Earthworks got underway in June 2022, with piles and retaining walls installed as digging progressed over the following months. When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern returned for a third visit in November 2022, she looked down at a large sand pit and the beginnings of the steel latticework.
Two tower cranes were put up at the end of 2022. The basement floors were laid in March-June 2023, and from that point construction became a process of alternating steel assembly and concrete pouring.
By February 2024 the structural framework was at street level and poking up from behind the supported façade. The concrete structure that makes up the bulk to the building was largely complete by the middle of the year, with the shear walls completed and the blade walls pointing out to the river in place.
In the latter half of 2024 the large steel ‘black box’ fly tower was added to the top of the structure. The Hamilton Hotel façade was sufficiently supported by the new building to allow its support frame to be removed and its restoration to get underway, while its roof had been re-tiled.
In late February 2025 the ‘signing the steel’ ceremony was held, wherein those involved the project signed their names to the last piece of steel going into the building, marking the completion of the skeleton of the building.
Around the same time, the cladding of the fly tower was installed, meaning the overall shape and look of the Theatre could now be seen.
The installation of the internal elements such as doors, insulation and services was already underway at that point, it then becoming the main focus through to the complex’s completion over the following months.
The restoration of the Hamilton Hotel façade was revealed as the scaffolding came down in three stages between February and May.
In August the first of external lighting was switched on for the first time. In November the untitled mural by Ralph Hotere from Founders was installed in the foyer, and the Auditorium’s stage engineering was formally signed off.
The internal fitout and technology installation meanwhile continued apace. Completion of the ground-floor commercial spaces allowed the new bars there to open in November 2025.
The building was formally completed by Fosters and handed over to the Waikato Regional Property Trust on 1 December 2025.
Share the Stage campaign 2022-2025
Momentum Waikato formally launched the Share the Stage fundraising campaign in May 2022 with an event at the Theatre site that included the first public screening of the Share the Stage promo video featuring a range of familiar Waikato faces.
Share the Stage events were then rolled out over the following months, including promotional functions with business groups including the Waikato Chambers of Commerce and the Hamilton Central Business Association, and a well-attended Quiz Night for the performing arts community in July 2022 at The Meteor theatre.
In October a celebratory Share the Stage Showcase featuring a range of local artists was held at Clarence Street Theatre. In December a mural wrap telling the history of the site was added to its perimeter fence.
Fundraising and marketing efforts through 2023 to 2025 saw several medium-sized firms join the ‘Share the Stage Business Collective Support’, and hundreds of seats in the auditorium sponsored by the individuals, families and groups donating via the ‘Take a Seat’ initiative.
Momentum’s fundraising effort finally wound up in April 2025, with subsequent funding matters moving to the Waikato Regional Property Trust.
Theatre operation planning and preparation 2022-2025
The Waikato Regional Property Trust started work on setting up the Theatre’s operation in early 2022. In July that year Deborah Nudds and Chris Williams were appointed as independent directors, who together with the trustees, make up its operations board.
Gus Sharp then started as the Theatre’s inaugural General Manager in February 2023. He was tasked with formulating an operational arrangement that met three goals – to bring in a steady stream of touring shows, provide fair and easy community access, and ensure that the building is well maintained and further developed.
After much deliberation and subsequent negotiations by Gus, in December 2024 it was announced that the WRPT had reached agreement with Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, to manage the Theatre for its first fifteen years of operation. This move is expected to meet and exceed the three operational imperatives described above.
In March 2025 Live Nation announced the appointment of Michael Gilling, formerly the manager of the Claudelands Event Centre, as the new Theatre’s Venue Manager, and Sarah Graham, formerly of Q Theatre in Auckland, as Bookings Manager.
One significant late change to the design, prompted by talks on the Theatre’s commercial operability, was a switch to removable seating on the ground floor of the Auditorium, to allow a standing audience there for music shows. In May 2025, the WRPT received a grant from the Hamilton City Council to cover the extra cost of this new arrangement.
In September 2025 the first show was announced for the Theatre, with several others following soon after.
In October 2025, the opening events scheduled for January 2026 were announced.
The WRPT commissioned composer Jeremy Mayall to design and lead ‘To The Stars - Ki ngā Whetū’ as a celebration of Waikato talent, supported by a grant to the WRPT from the Hamilton City Council.
Live Nation meanwhile have Teeks and Dave Dobbyn to play shows marking the launch of their operation of the Theatre.
