Roof may cost council $5.6m

The scaffolding has been up for close to a year but the work on New Plymouth’s Civic Centre is still not finished and could cost up to $5.6 million.

Fixing the Liardet St building’s roof was going to cost $1m.

Then another project was added bringing it up to $3.1m, funded from existing budgets.

The New Plymouth District Council says it does not have final figures for how much the project, funded from within the $5.6m Civic Centre budget, will cost.

‘‘The project initially covered repairs to the south wing of the Civic Centre and was finished on schedule, in five months,’’ chief financial officer Joy Buckingham said in a statement.

‘‘As is common in the building industry, once the 25-year-old roof was inspected it was found to be in a poor state. There was a change of scope and the second project commenced, taking advantage of scaffolding that was already installed to offset costs.’’

Most of the scaffolding had now been removed, Buckingham said, and the work would be completed in the next few months.

‘‘It is great we will have a brand new roof covering the south wing, and that the atrium and chamber roofs have been upgraded, in addition to a freshly painted building.

‘‘This work programme has been funded within the Civic Centre budget of $5.6m in our 10-year plan and once work is completed, final project figures will be released.’’

According to Taranaki Regional Council’s property information map, the Civic Centre site has a capital value of $15.5m. The 9900 square metres of land it sits on is worth $4.07m.

Buckingham said the council thanked people for their patience.

‘‘The project scope changed into a double project which has thrown up some challenges but we are constantly looking at how we can do things better.’’

In 2014, when Andrew Judd was mayor, $16,000 was spent fixing leaks and upgrading his office and $20,000 went on safety improvements to the foyer.

Since its opening in 1996, the council has also spent $1.8m on the inside of the civic centre.

A 2017 revamp included a new kitchen for the cafe, a designer carpet featuring an abstract interpretation of Mt Taranaki, earthquake strengthening, energy efficiency and creating an open-plan first floor.