$91M CITY HQ A STEP CLOSER
GEELONG Council is set to construct a $91 million headquarters in the heart of the city.
Tomorrow night City of Greater Geelong councillors will vote on a recommendation to build the City HQ on council owned land at 137 Mercer St, only 200m away from the current City Hall — part of which will be retained as a civic space.
The move will consolidate the council’s nine different offices and bring its administrative staff under the one roof, a key recommendation of the 2016 Commission of Inquiry.
The inquiry report, tabled in Victorian Parliament in April 2016, noted consolidation of council offices would, “unify the organisation, deliver increased efficiency and productivity and release surplus assets for more economic uses”.
Geelong chief executive Martin Cutter said bringing all staff together in the one building was critically important to the council.
“Doing so would achieve significant savings in the long-term — including around $2.8 million per year in rent, as well as reduced IT, communication, power and other costs,” Mr Cutter said.
“The move would also produce a more efficient City administration, with staff no longer wasting time travelling from site to site.
“This would lead to improved working relationships between departments and a better overall culture.
“Ultimately, all of this will benefit the community, and the building itself would be a significant public asset.”
The recommendation to build the new civic offices was put forward by a project advisory committee comprising eight councillors, who also suggested council build and own the new HQ, rather than renting.
The committee also recommended the current City Hall be retained as a civic space for meetings and ceremonies, be made available for an extension of the Geelong Gallery, and that a conservation management plan be put in place to protect the building’s heritage elements.
The project — scoped to include 10,000sq m of office space, 300sq m of ground level retail space and 120 car parks — has been budgeted at $91 million.