The cost of moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta could blow out to almost $2 billion – 10 times the estimated sale price of the museum's Ultimo site.
Secrecy surrounds the NSW government's controversial plan for the Powerhouse, but a parliamentary inquiry was told last week that construction of a new museum would cost up to $800 million.
More NSW News Videos
Will you visit the Powerhouse in Parramatta?
For some visitors to Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, its relocation to Parramatta will make the trip easier; others say they will cancel their memberships.
Lindsay Sharpe, a former director of the Powerhouse from 1978 to 1988, later told Fairfax Media: "What can safely be said is that there will probably not be much change left from $1.5 billion and it might go as high as $2 billion, in 2024 dollars."
The cost of relocating the Powerhouse also involves the purchase of land on the Parramatta River, which has been valued at $150 million, and moving the museum's vast collection, including its priceless Boulton and Watt steam engine.
Opponents of the relocation have long warned that moving the museum, which has more than 500,000 items in its collection, will cost far more than the $150-$200 million value of the Ultimo site.
Mr Sharpe, who opposes the museum move, said inflation and "brand damage" would also contribute to the project's final cost, which he estimated at almost $2 billion - four times the $450-$500 million price tag suggested to the museum's board of trustees in 2015.
A spokeswoman for Arts Minister Don Harwin did not dispute the $2 billion price tag to move the museum. "[W]e are carefully considering all aspects of moving the new museum, and negotiations are progressing as expected," the spokeswoman said
Architects, accountants and consultants called to the inquiry, chaired by Robert Borsak of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, declined to answer questions about the project, citing secrecy requirements.
![Powerhouse director Dolla Merrillees said a negative campaign against the relocation of the museum had made it more ...](/web/20170222090134im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/o/i/e/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guh3fh.png/1487657832290.jpg)
At one point, Graham Brooke, a partner at financial firm KPMG, told the inquiry: "I am going to sound a bit like a broken record and a boring old accountant, but the contents of the preliminary business case are, I am advised, Cabinet in Confidence."
This was despite Mr Borsak's remarks that information, even about private commercial dealings, could not be withheld from the upper house on the basis of secrecy clauses in statutes and contracts.
![The proposed site of the Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta has several drawbacks, architect Joe Agius has told a ...](/web/20170222090134im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/z/8/m/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guh3fh.png/1487657832290.jpg)
"In relation to cabinet confidentiality the Legislative Council's view … is that the committee is entitled to information or documents except those that disclose the actual deliberations of Cabinet."
Architect Joe Agius told the inquiry he had carried out work on the basis that the construction of the new museum would cost between $600 million to $800 million.
!["We are not building a nuclear reactor or a defence facility; We are relocating a museum": NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge.](/web/20170222090134im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/d/g/q/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guh3fh.png/1487657832290.jpg)
Mr Agius identified several drawbacks with the proposed riverfront site, including the risk of flooding that he said would increase construction costs.
He said heritage buildings on the site were a constraint but could be "positively incorporated into a future facility".
![Secrecy surrounds the NSW government's controversial plan to move the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta, which could cost ...](/web/20170222090134im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/v/l/p/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guh3fh.png/1487681187452.jpg)
"There is a high-rise residential that has recently been constructed on the western side of the site that potentially represents a constraint," he said.
Mr Agius said the movement of vehicles in and out of the site "is difficult".
"I think the design of the loading and servicing arrangement for the museum would need to be very carefully considered on that site as well," he said.
The museum's director, Dolla Merrillees, told the inquiry a negative campaign against the relocation of the Powerhouse, rebadged as the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, had made it more difficult to attract sponsors.
Asked by Labor's Walt Secord if there had been talk of scrapping the museum move, Ms Merrillees said: "Not to my knowledge."
MAAS's director, new museum project, Michael Parry blamed "the negative portrayal in the media" for fostering confusion about whether the Powerhouse was still open.
Peter Root, whose firm assessed the cost of moving the museum's collection, said he could not guarantee the priceless Boulton and Watt steam engine would not be harmed if it was moved.
He said he was not aware of a risk analysis for relocating iconic objects in the collection.
Mr Root suggested a list of iconic objects that would be displayed at the new museum might also be kept secret because it was "cabinet in confidence".
This prompted Greens MP David Shoebridge to ask: "Was it explained to you what the purpose of such secrecy is?".
"We are not building a nuclear reactor or a defence facility; we are relocating a museum. Have you met this level of secrecy before?".
Mr Root said yes. But heritage consultant and former Powerhouse trustee Kylie Winkworth said the Museum of London had been planned and designed with transparency and the public's involvement in the new museum's design and its exhibits.
"Contrary to the evidence it is highly unusual to plan a museum in total secrecy since a museum is ultimately a community organisation which must be owned and supported by the community," she said.
The final business case is expected to be considered by the NSW government by the end of March.