Whangārei's new civic centre will be ready for action soon. Photo: LDR / Northern Advocate, Michael Cunningham
Whangarei District Council's almost $60 million civic centre is to be completed next month.
Whangarei District Council (WDC) general manager corporate Alan Adcock said: "Construction of our new civic centre building is scheduled for practical completion in late February, although some non-disruptive fit-out work is likely to extend slightly past that date."
"Despite numerous weather challenges over the last five months we're moving forward, with landscaping now progressing in the front of the building," Adcock said.
An official opening for the ratepayer-funded civic centre on Rust Ave is to follow.
"Dates for milestone events such as the official ribbon-cutting and the first meetings in the new council chambers are yet to be confirmed, but are likely to be in March," Adcock said.
Adcock said recently that the building project had faced Covid-19 headwinds from its start.
The centre's opening was originally planned for before October last year.
Adcock said the forecast project completion cost for the project remained "within the $59 million budget approved at the (WDC) council meeting of June 2022".
WDC said in June 2018 the civic centre would cost $37 million. Twelve months later, the centre was announced as costing $38 million.
Hundreds of council staff will soon move to the new Whangārei District Council civic centre. Photo: LDR / Northern Advocate, Michael Cunningham
By February 2020 that had climbed by $10 million to $48m, and the originally 5500sqm building increased in size to 7000sqm, enlarged to accommodate more people including Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Then, by April 2021 the revised cost in the wake of new quantity surveyors coming on board was $55.1 million, that decreased to $54.1 million after contingency allowances were reduced.
In June 2022 WDC voted to add another $5 million to the building's cost. This nine per cent increase took the cost of the 470-person building to $59 million. It was the sixth cost hike in five years.
Adcock said at the time of the June 2022 last civic centre price increase that a lift in costs was not unique.
"This [$59 million] is obviously well above the previous approved budget of $48 million, but it should be noted that the construction process coincided with unprecedented events arising from the Covid pandemic," he said.
The building plan has grown in size by 60 per cent over the last five years, in part to accommodate taxpayer-funded Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
However taxpayer-funded Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has now indicated its staff will instead continue to work from its current Bank Street site until its current lease there expires, Adcock said.
Hundreds of WDC and other staff will be moving into the civic centre from Forum North and other office sites around the centre of town in March.
The shift will happen floor by floor to ensure a smooth transition and that everyone got appropriate workplace, features and safety induction, Adcock said.
The civic centre will be the new working space for about 350 WDC staff. It will also be the new working space for about 50 inter-council Northland Transportation Alliance staff from WDC, Northland Regional Council, Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council. Council meetings will be held in its new council chambers.
The civic centre will include a ground floor café.
Other major WDC Whangārei projects completed in recent years include the $32 million Te Matau a Pohe bridge (2013), $30 million Whau Valley water treatment plant (2022) and the $8 million Whangārei central library (2006).
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
