News timeline

Occasional news snips.

Confluence was established in 2015 up on the top floor of 15 Watt Street above the Westpac bank. For over six years we turned a quirky space into Whanganui's most successful coworking space, a community events space, and in 2018 we added a boutique art-house cinema.

Then in July 2021 Confluence relocated everything into the iconic 1920's heritage building built by Levin & Co, and most recently used by UCOL, but perhaps more known locally as the Backhouse.

However less than a year later in April 2022 we made the difficult decision to close Confluence due to the terrible project management of the Backhouse project.

Date	Update
Dec 2020	Initial discussions with W&P and agreement to relocate Confluence into Backhouse.
28 May 2021	Design for a dedicated Backhouse gigabit fibre install started
5 June 2021	Work commenced on making our new spaces fit for purpose. Whanganui's own McCullum Building Limited are leading the project.
6 July 2021	The builders are tidying up and the final bits of carpet are being laid. Confluence will soon be closer to our inspirational Awa and indeed the people of our community very soon now.
12-14 July 2021	The majority of our coworking desks and furniture are relocated.
15 July 2021	Confluence Coworkers return to the newly opened coworking space.
20 July 2021	McCullum Building Limited remain onsite to commission Confluence Cinema, ready for the first public screening on 29 July.
29-31 July 2021	Our first two public screenings in Confluence Cinema were a great success.
01-11 August 2021	The finishing touches of new lighting and vintage cinema seating, originally gifted to us by the new owners of John MacDonald's unique home based Whanganui cinema. Together with a few other locally donated cinema seats from our friends at Tr3ble Gallery and Ginza Furniture. All were skilfully installed by our very own Jim Farley.
12 August 2021	Our first sold-out screening in the 35 seat version of screen 2, was a great filmmaker hosted evening of the iconic NZ film, This Is New Zealand. Presented by veteran filmmaker Hugh Macdonald plus his producer Graeme Moffatt, and followed by an audience Q&A .
Planned for the rest of August	Work on the new Box Office and sweet shop was due to commence before our planned September screenings, however...
18 August 2021	NZ's 2nd nationwide Alert Level 4 lockdown under the Covid-19 pandemic, plus during the subsequent level 3 and 2 precautions, we decided to keep the cinema closed until it was safe and practical to reopen again.
1 November 2021	A NZ wide Protection Framework is announced which will allow business to remain open, but with varying degrees of safety mitigations in place based on a traffic light. We decide that the requirements and general precautions of the higher red level are not suitable for operating Confluence Cinema under.
5 November 2021	Confluence Coworking reopens to fully vaccinated customers under Whanganui's red level of safety mitigations.
1 January 2022	Whanganui region welcomes in the new year and the orange protection level.
10 January 2022	Confluence Coworking hosts Melita and Kevin return after a much needed Christmas break. Planning for public reopening and bookings commence for some private group screenings at Confluence Cinema.
20 January 2022	Confluence Cinema hosts a private screening of This Is New Zealand for the Whanganui & Partners team. This is our first screening since closing in August 2021 and indeed was the same film we screened back then.
25 January 2022	Red protection levels are put in place NZ wide. Confluence's plan for this is enacted which means the cinema and events space are again closed. Confluence Coworking continues to operate and be available for newcomers, with Covid19 passes required and masking strongly recommended.
3 February 2022	Confluence Coworking is open and focusing on providing desks and a social working environment for Whanganui locals. Our cinema will reopen once orange protection levels are in place again locally - this may not be until winter 2022.
14 February 2022	We have had high levels of interest in the coworking side of the business over the last 2 weeks. Thanks to everyone who has contacted us or come in for a trial. It's great to be able to offer some of what Confluence is here for - although we do increasingly miss providing opportunities for critical thinking, be that through screening films or hosting public meetings - we hope these will both return later in 2022. So I guess you could say, "Hold that thought." for now.
21 February 2022	We've updated the Backhouse history page on our website (here), and also revamped our comparison table and FAQ pages with more information.
07 March 2022	Our cinema and events remain closed, and since the NZ case numbers have risen our coworking space is hardly being used for the time being. We considered closing it while the peak continues and may yet do so depending upon the local case numbers. If you're interested to find out more then call us on 06 2813474 for a chat.
17 March 2022	Confluence Coworking remains open, but the cinema and events are still not viable to reopen. But we have enhanced our River Journey coworking deals to provide an alternative for businesses looking to split their staff into working groups. Also despite a quieter month for coworking visitors in general, we have had a number of new starter enquiries and a few one-off visitors. We are hopeful that once the fear of the high March Covid19 caseload subsides, perhaps inline with falling cases locally, that more people will want to break away from their four walls at home and return to 'going to work' again.
01 April 2022	It's not the end, but the end of the beginning is upon us...
30 April 2022	Confluence Whanganui ceased trading. Much of the furniture was donated to a local organisation. The cinema was put into storage to be reopened one day under a new initiative. But for now the story of Confluence has stopped flowing. Our gratitude and thanks to all those supporters who sent us messages or helped make Confluence what it was. Cheers.

If you're interested to find out more about the history of the Backhouse before its current state, then read our short history.

BACKHOUSE BUILDING HISTORY >