Southland's tuatara are to have a new home, separate to Invercargill's museum Project 1225 rebuild, within Queens Park's animal reserve.

The 109m2 facility will be located off Queens Drive, near the entrance to the park's playground car park.

Invercargill City Council’s (ICC) Programme Director Lee Butcher said the new location would connect the tuatara with other animals that call Queens Park home.

The ICC have chosen Christchurch-based architects Studio 4 to design a new facility.

Studio 4 directors Julian O’Sullivan and Matt Sloper said they were excited to be involved in the project of national significance and looked forward to creating a safe and secure home for the tuatara as well as a visitor experience the people of Invercargill and Southland could be proud of.

Studio 4 are familiar with the south, having previously assisted in the design and delivery of the award-winning Te Puka o Te Waka Rakiura Museum on Raikura Stewart Island, they said.

Butcher said he had absolute faith that Studio 4 and its consultants were the right team to design the perfect home for our tuatara, given the work they have already done for Christchurch’s precious gorillas at the Great Ape Centre in Orana Park.

"An enclosure of this calibre will be the first in the South Island and likely even Aotearoa,” he said.

ICC Mana Whenua Representative Evelyn Cook said the new enclosure would ensure the tuatara’s rich legacy in the rohe continued.

“Tuatara are a taonga and their presence in Waihōpai provides us with an opportunity to understand their importance in Aotearoa New Zealand as a remnant of a bygone age."

“It is a privilege to care for them and provide them with the best living area possible,” she said.

Geotechnical work at the Southland Museum site, as part of ICC's Project 1225, forced the relocation of all resident tuatara to a secret Invercargill location in February this year.