Ceiling Collapse Forces Closure Of Museum’s Exhibition Centre: CEO

The New Brunswick Museum’s exhibition centre in Saint John remains closed after heavy rain brought down part of the ceiling.

Bill Hicks, CEO of the provincial museum, said the ceiling collapse happened at their Market Square facility on Thanksgiving weekend.

Hicks said some of the ship models and display panels on the wall were damaged when the wet sheetrock fell from the ceiling.

“They’ve all been taken out of there, they’re in a good safe place and conservators are working on them to ensure once we’re sure that the roof issue is completely dealt with, we can get that gallery back up,” said Hicks in a phone interview.

The damage occurred in the midst of an ongoing roof replacement by the building’s landlord, according to Hicks.

He said the roof was being replaced in sections, but the damage caused by the Thanksgiving weekend rainfall has sped up the process.

“The landlord has indicated they will complete the entire roof over the museum as opposed to just doing another phase this year and some more next year,” said Hicks.

“We’ve dealt with this for a little while in various different ways so it’ll be great to have a nice new roof.”

But Hicks said the issue speaks to the “urgent” facility issues at the exhibition centre and at their collections and research facility on Douglas Avenue.

A plan was in the works to bring the two centres together in a new $100-million facility uptown, but the Progressive Conservative government cancelled the $50-million funding commitment made by the previous Liberal government in 2018.

“It’s not just about ‘we’d like to have this, we’d like to have that.’ It’s not about wants. This museum is 178 years old and it’s gone through multiple changes over that time, it’s reacted to different crises as they come up, and now it’s time to renew facilities again,” said Hicks.

“Everybody gets that. Government gets it, the public gets it, the board gets it, management certainly gets it. We just have to accept that urgent need and get on with it and deal with it.”

Meanwhile, Hicks said he expects the exhibition centre will remain closed for another week or so until the repairs are complete.