Progressing
REGION: After a slow, soggy start to the ground work, progress on the new Central Energy Trust Wild base Recovery aviaries is racing ahead while the sun shines.
After a slow, soggy start to the ground work, progress on the new Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery aviaries is racing ahead while the sun shines.
The $5.6 million centre in the heart of Palmerston North’s Victoria Esplanade will be New Zealand’s only specialist wildlife rehabilitation centre, with purpose-built aviaries and a physiotherapy ward.
The public will be able to visit for free to watch as rare creatures recover from treatment at Massey University’s Wildbase Hospital before returning to the wild.
Principal contractor Kynoch Construction Ltd started work on the site in April and city council senior planner Aaron Phillips said the wet winter had not helped to prepare the foundations.
‘‘We’re playing catch up now and the beautiful weather is welcome from that point of view.’’
The walls are up and the roof went on in November, with all materials and labour provided free of charge by Lance Berry Roofing, working with Metalcraft.
Phillips said their additional efforts, worth $27,000 in savings, were typical of the level of community and business generosity the project had enjoyed.
Carrying on the theme, Programmed Property Services is at work painting inside and outside the complex.
Wildbase Recovery Community Trust chairman Roger Kennedy said the project wouldn’t have been possible without so much goodwill.
‘‘It is going to make a huge impact on how we care for our native wildlife.’’
A supply of boulders has arrived on site and will be lifted by crane into positions inside the aviaries and along the walkways.
The centre is expected to be finished in mid-2018, and to attract up to 110,000 visitors a year from around New Zealand and overseas.
Wildbase Recovery is being built and will be owned by the city council. It will be co-managed by Massey University’s Veterinary School.