Centre gone to make a space for Wildbase

The contract for building the Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery aviaries is expected to be awarded within a couple of weeks.

The Palmerston North City Council held an extraordinary meeting with the press and public excluded on Monday morning to consider tenders for building the rehabilitation facilities at Victoria Esplanade.

Senior property and parks planner Aaron Phillips said after the meeting it would take a week to 10 days to complete the negotiations.

The facility will complement the work of Massey University’s Wildbase Hospital, providing rehabilitation aviaries where birds and other wildlife treated at the hospital will convalesce in preparation for their return to the wild.

The 2900-square-metre complex will be open to the public, supported with education opportunities to give visitors an insight into the plight of creatures passing through and the measures being taken to support endangered species.

About $5.5 million has been raised for the project, including $1.37m from the city council and $2m from the Central Energy Trust.

In preparation for the building, the Esplanade Education Centre was moved from the site on Thursday.

It had been unsuitable to be retained as part of the new centre.

Earlier, a group of exotic trees close to the centre had been felled to create space.

Timber from those trees was being assessed for its suitability to be used in the new aviaries, for cladding, for perches and possibly for carving.

Phillips said the louvres of the new education centre would use the recycled cedar, and the large entrance feature would ‘‘almost certainly’’ come from the old trees.

The Peter Black Conservatory will remain exactly where it is throughout and after the aviaries’ construction.