Waikato Times: Theatre's new/old visage revealed as covers come off

Originally published in Waikato Times, Saturday 22 February 2025.

By Mike Mather.

The first section of Waikato Regional Theatre façade has been spruced up and the striking masonry can now be seen by passers-by. Photo: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

A glimpse of the future of downtown Hamilton - which also happens to be its past - can now be seen in Victoria St.

The newly-restored neoclassical façade of the 102-year-old Hamilton Hotel building - now the frontage of the Waikato Regional Theatre - has been unveiled with the removal of the first section of a scaffolding shelter surrounding the building.

The long-awaited appearance of the pristine plaster of the old hotel frontage is another visible milestone in the ongoing construction of the 1300-seat theatre that promises to revolutionise entertainment in the city.

“It looks fantastic. We are all really pleased with how it has come out,” Foster Construction site manager Dave Middlemiss said. “What you can see reflects all of the effort that has gone into preserving it.”

The restoration team employed a “crack injection” process to help stabilise the masonry while also intentionally retaining flaws that had crept in over the years since the hotel was originally built in 1923.

The Foster Construction restoration team are working their way along the building, but the results of their labours are already visible.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY

Still missing from the final picture is the canopy shelter that will extend out and over the pavement.

Over the coming weeks the team tasked with restoring the façade will progressively work their way further down towards the southern end of the building, and then around the corner into Sapper Moore Jones Place.

The next major step in the theatre’s construction will be the addition of cladding on top of the theatre’s fly tower - the “big black box” currently sitting atop the main building - followed by the “topping off” of the last pieces of steel being lifted into place.

Not long after, the second of the two cranes that have dominated Hamilton’s skyline for the last few years will be taken down. The first disappeared a few weeks ago.

The canopy shelter, seen in this artist's rendition created by the Jasmax architecture firm, shows the canopy shelter which is yet to be added to the theatre’s frontage. Images: Jasmax.

The theatre is on schedule to be opened towards the end of this year. For much of the intervening time it will appear to passers-by that not much is happening with the building, but inside it will be a scene of furious activity as workers fit out the interior.

The façade will be even more solid than it was a century ago, thanks to seismic screws that were drilled into it from the rear to firmly hold it on to the new theatre building.

The story of the regional theatre recently got an exciting twist with the announcement that global entertainment titan Live Nation had signed a 15-year deal with theatre owners the Waikato Property Trust to manage it.

Live Nation, which has its headquarters in Beverley Hills, California also operates top Auckland venue Spark Arena and, among other feats, recently brought Coldplay to New Zealand.