In 2018, the Trust sought financial support from both Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council for a new Archives, Research, and Collections Facility to replace the existing storage facility at Isel Park.

The facility was proposed to be built on a site in central Nelson, co-located with the existing Provincial Museum building on Trafalgar Street. At the time, this site offered many advantages, including consolidating all operations and activities onto one site and easy accessibility for visitors, enabling greater public access to the archives and library area for research. Both councils allocated $3million towards the project.

In 2019 the Trust purchased land adjacent to the existing Museum on Church Street.

In February 2023, both Councils approved the release of $125,000 from each of their ARC funding allocations, enabling the Trust to complete the preliminary design and secure a resource consent—an essential step before applying for Central Government funding.

In its annual plan for 2025/26, Nelson City Council has set aside $921,000 for the project, with a further $2,022,000 in the 26/27 financial year.

The Tasman Bays Heritage Trust (TBHT) was established in 2000 to administer the Nelson Provincial Museum Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao as a regional facility, on behalf of Tasman District Council and Nelson City Council (who each own 50% of the museum each).

Nelson Provincial Museum holds one of the strongest regional collections in New Zealand, especially the national significant photographic collection. Valued at around $20 million, the collection comprises approximately 200,000 objects, 1.2 million photographs and 150,000 original, rare and one-off paper documents (manuscripts, maps, books etc.) that provide a unique and personal insight into our region’s rich history.

https://www.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/