Developer hoping to get project back on schedule
THE move to Alert Level 3 should have been sooner, an Invercargill developer says.
However, Scott O’Donnell, who is leading Invercargill’s CBD redevelopment, is pleased demolition will restart next week.
‘‘We can be operational, in theory, next Tuesday based on what the Government has said today.
‘‘We will be trying our best to get going as soon as possible after midnight on Monday.’’
Only about nine workers would be on site at one time, so social distancing was not an issue.
Following the Government’s Alert Level 4 lockdown on March 23, the demolition and redevelopment of the innercity block was put on hold.
Mr O'Donnell said despite the lockdown, those involved in the project had continued to work on elements such as design, consents and procurement of contractors.
The initial agreement with retailer Farmers, the anchor tenant of the development, was to complete the first part of the project by November 2021.
However, last year it was agreed the opening date would be February 2022.
He hoped the deadline would be met.
‘‘We’ve lost four weeks now but we will do our very best to get the project back on time.’’
Earlier this year, the project was delayed a further two weeks following an injunction filed by property manager Gaire Thompson.
Mr Thompson sought to halt the demolition until a substantive hearing could be held to determine whether the Invercargill City Council should have publicly notified amendments to HWCP Management’s resource consent.
So far, more than 7500sq m of the block’s buildings had been demolished.