The Yarrawonga Library, Events and Performance Precinct (YLEPP) will commence construction in the coming weeks with a completion date estimated by the end of 2024.
At the Moira Shire May ordinary council meeting, a recommendation was adopted for council to approve a ‘reset’ for the YLEPP resulting from latent site conditions requiring design changes that will increase the contractual obligation by $613,732.31 to council’s construction contractor Ultra Project Services (UPS).
The currently approved contract sum is $6,843,662.99 ex GST with the proposed contract sum to be increased to $7,457,395.30.
The additional costs are to be covered from council’s reserves.
Administrator John Tanner AM said there has been far too long of a delay in the project although it has not been without challenges.
“We have now reached the stage for construction to begin and for the library to be completed in 18 months,” Mr Tanner said.
“It will be a great asset for the community. Issues in regards to the next stage of the development (town hall) will work in parallel with greater community consultation with dedicated resource to ensure all community issues are raised and are taken into account surrounding current usage and into the future.
“The Yarrawonga Town Hall has served community well and will continue to do so but it’s important to look at the future.
“This project has not been handled in the best instance in the first place particularly with community consultation and for that reason we have lost some time and that time has caused delays and penalties.
“The decision was made to establish a library on that site by the previous council and a contract was entered into which we must adhere to that contract.
“There are some views within the municipality that we should not proceed with the contract but we must push on but in a different way. The fact is that there will be genuine community consultation in regards to the town hall and how that town hall interacts with the new library.
“This project has got considerable funding from both state and federal governments and that must also be taken into account.
“There is no question that this project will continue to proceed and to do so immediately. For that reason the recommendation will be adopted to enable commencement of construction.”
After the project was suspended in late May 2022 due to latent ground conditions that had the potential to undermine the existing footings of adjoining buildings, a redesign of the foundation slab was requested of Architect N2SH that was required to be approved by Heritage Victoria and subsequently a reissue of the council building permit.
Additionally, compliance of the fire service for the building was not fit-for-purpose, resulting from the town water supply not being of sufficient pressure or volume, therefore a redesign of the fire service was required that introduced the requirement for a fire water tank on site and associated pump.
The reissuing of the revised building permit in late March 2023 to the council’s construction contractor UPS resulted in variations being sought prior to the contract being reset for the project.
Both N2SH and UPS welcome the reset of the contract and are resourced to commence and see the project through to completion.
Community members still have questions
Several questions were also asked by the public gallery about the library project pertaining to briefs given to the architect, tenders, out of date plans, cost breakdowns and the flooring of the community hall which were answered by Acting CEO Matt Jarvis.
What briefs were giving to the architect of the library to suddenly change to an arts and performance precinct and what functions are envisaged to justify a $10m expense?
“We don’t believe there has been a sudden change to the brief,” Mr Jarvis said.
In February 2022 a special council meeting accepted a tender for stages 1 and 2 of the library project, what did it entail?
“Stage one is construction of a modern library, community event and exhibition space, commercial kitchen, storage facility, customer service/reception areas, car park, two outdoor spaces, gallery, event space in existing floor of town hall, new female toilets in townhall and accessible lift in town hall,” Mr Jarvis answered.
“Stage two will see the renovation of the town hall.”
The community meeting held in Yarrawonga on May 1 showed plans, why were we shown out of date plans for library?
“Plans and elevation shown were spoken to by the architect. A range of factors and developments were discussed since the plans have been compiled,” Mr Jarvis said.
Plans shown do not meet the many needs of, and endless unsolved issues of the community and users of the town hall and library, will further consultations within community be held before building is commenced?
“There is a commitment that we have dedicated resource during construction of the library to consult on the usage which will inform a business case,” Mr Jarvis responded.
Regarding the library project, can we see a cost breakdown of the $1m spent by December 2, 2021 as well as an additional breakdown of costs from December 2021 to present.
“As at April 2023, the life to date spend on the project is $1.46m, made up of $900,000 costs acquired in the current financial year and $560,000 enquired in previous financial years,” Mr Jarvis explained. “For the current financial year – costs are incurred as design and delivery approximately $600,000, Powercor related costs approximately $280,000, legal expenses $11,000 and interest on borrowings $20,000.
“The previous financial years cost incurred design and delivery $540,000, legal expenses $4000, and Powercor $13,000.
Can council confirm that as promised at the time, the pristine floorboards salvaged during demolition of the community hall are held in a secure location for reuse in future public building projects?
“We have been advised that unfortunately the floorboards were not able to be salvaged as it was physically impossible to salvage in one piece due to type of joint,” Mr Jarvis concluded.