Timaru council sends theatre and heritage hub to the market

Tuesday, 26 March 2024

Plenty of concerns have been expressed about Timaru’s Theatre Royal redevelopment project but all the district’s councillors, with the exception of one, have agreed to accept the estimated costs sight unseen.

Those for and against the build have strongly voiced their opinion on the project to upgrade the theatre and build a heritage hub at a council meeting on Tuesday.

The project will now go to the market, with a fixed price expected in June or July.

Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen removed himself from the decision citing a conflict of interest, and councillor Stacey Scott was against accepting the costs before seeing them.

The estimates were not available for review “for commercial reasons, and to enable council to carry out commercial activities whilst Southbase Construction complete the tender procurement process’’.

The detailed design cost estimates had been seen by a select few, including the council’s property services and client representative Nicole Timney.

She told the meeting the numbers she had seen were within the $57.1 million budgeted for the project.

“We asked Southbase to seriously look at our budget, they are aware of the $57.1m,’’ Timney said.

She was “very pleasantly surprised to see’’ the numbers and said the market was softening, which was working in the council’s favour.

If the fixed lump sum, when it became available, was not what councillors wanted, there was an “off ramp’’ to withdraw, she said.

However, the indicators were that the project was doable, she said.

“You’ve asked to keep the costs down and we’ve done that.’’

When asked by councillor Stu Piddington how that had been achieved, Timney said as escalation and contingency had been removed from the project, the costs had gone down.

“I’m not able to bring the numbers to the table, but I can say they’re favourable for what we’ve requested,’’ she said.

Piddington asked if everything the council had wanted was included. “We’ve got everything,” Timney replied.

This included a sealed car park and a new roof, she said.

“We have a list of items we could pull out if we have to,’’ she said.

However, Scott said she was nervous about agreeing to something councillors had not sighted.

“What impact does it make to wait three weeks to get all our external reports?’’ she asked.

Timney said the project team had begun to review the detailed cost estimates. It would take a number of weeks to review, and she would present the final information to councillors in mid-July.

She was confident nothing awry would be found, she said.

The council’s chief executive Nigel Trainor said external contractors and council staff would be working “parallel on the project, not one after the other’’.

Councillor Michelle Pye said she was supportive of Scott and was nervous about not delivering the project on budget.

“What is the risk of us going out and all those contractors spending all this time?’’ she asked.

“If it’s not $57.1m, I won’t be voting for it.’’

She felt it would be more prudent to wait to see the figures.

Timney said councillors could wait for three weeks but Trainor said waiting would not make any difference.

“We have a detailed design and cost estimate and that cost won’t necessarily change.

“The next change is getting to the market, which is unknown to all of us.

“Let the processes move along so we can get to that point.’’

Pye said: “I’m just nervous we haven’t see that, and you’re asking us to make a decision.”

Scott said: “You’re saying you’ve sighted it [the costs]. I have not.

“If we talk about November [2023] it was not within budget,’’ she said.

“We’ve spent another $2m. If you’re saying it’s the same, that makes me extremely nervous that we’re not within budget.’’

Trainor said the costs were within $57.1m.

Piddington said he had become more concerned as the meeting’s debate continued.

“Show me the number - I’d prefer to wait.’’

However, Trainor said the numbers could be brought to councillors in a public-excluded meeting. They would look at them “and we’ll debate, and we’ll be in the exact same position”.

Speaking in the meeting’s public forum before the project was discussed, Timaru man Les Rawlings said what he had to say would be “short and sharp’’.

“I’m here today to voice my opposition to the rebuild, while I’m still alive,’’ Rawlings said.

He claimed if council went through with “this white elephant’’ it could put the organisation into bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, in support of the project, Jess Young and Aaron Segar said they spoke as representatives of Save Timaru’s Arts and Rebuild Our Theatre (Start), a group of about 250 members.

They said fellow group members were also at the meeting and they were tired of the project being continually dragged out.

“And [we] just want the Timaru District Council to start the project,’’ Young said.

She said the group acknowledged there were grumblings in the community because of the project’s multiple hold ups and highly publicised blow up of costs.

“We are not here to whinge about that.’’

She encouraged the council to “hit start now’’.

South Canterbury Museum Development Trust chairman John Simpson said he would love to see the hub underway and gathering some momentum.

“The project is a long-term investment in our future,’’ he said.

“I believe Timaru has lost a little bit of its mojo and hope council can help get that back.’’