Councillors surprised to learn council has chosen lead architect for Theatre Royal redevelopment
Friday, 7 February 2025
Three designs were received following an invite-only process to find the lead architect for Timaru’s Theatre Royal, and the council has already chosen its preferred candidate - to the surprise of some councillors.
Asked for an update on where the project was at during the first council meeting of the year on Tuesday, the council’s chief executive confirmed three expressions of interest for the design had been received.
“The tender evaluation team have recommended one which we have signed off.”
Trainor said the council was now working on a contract with that “entity” which he did not name.
“The process went well, we interviewed the potential architects … the scoring was completed and there was one that scored better than the others.”
He said once the contract was sorted they could get started on the earthworks.
In December, the council confirmed it ran an invite-only process to find the lead architect via the Government’s free electronic tender service website, Gets.
As the process was done by invite only, information on the role was not available for public viewing. When the council issues tenders for work that are open to the public, details are able to be viewed online, as was the case for the two options listed earlier this year for the redevelopment of Aorangi Park.
The Timaru Herald asked the council a number of questions about the process on December 23, including why it decided to tender the contract by invite only, who made that decision, how many suppliers had been invited, how it decided who to invite and whether it had received any complaints from potential suppliers who were not invited.
It is yet to respond.
Trainor said they had been working with MBIE on the funding and had given them a new draft timetable and that was due to go before the ministers for final approval.
Group manager environmental services, Paul Cooper, said the council had also procured two specialists to come in and remove mould and asbestos from the Theatre Royal.
“It’s not a particularly serious problem, but it does require expertise. So, that will be happening this month as well.”
Mayor Nigel Bowen asked where the issue was in the building, to which Trainor replied that Southbase had a report that talked about black mould and recommended breathing apparatus be put on to go into that building.
“That was unknown to us,” Trainor said.
“That’s the mould that’s got to get removed, it’s under the floors and growing like mould.”
Councillor Stu Piddington said he was “a little surprised” to learn the councillors had not seen the scoring or the process of the appointment “prior to it happening”.
“It’s been a long journey, when the first lot of architects came they presented to the whole council. So, I think we’ve been short-changed a little in terms of process.
“It’s a massive project and it would have been, I think, good to go through the tenders and procurements or the council, before anyone was appointed.”
Piddington asked who was on the procurement group.
Trainor said the procurement was led by council’s procurement officer and the evaluation team included project manager Paul Haggarth, strategic manager infrastructure Selina Kunac and Matt Sissons.
Piddington said he was not worried who was appointed as lead architect, but would like to see “a more transparent process for a $24 million project”.
“Are the new group confident they can deliver what we want for $20 million?
Trainor replied that it was “too early to say”.
“We’ve got to get the design, all previous indications are we can…
“I’m pretty confident with the designers they’ve selected that they know the parameters and they’ll be working to that.”
Bowen said he agreed there was an expectation the decision would come through the “tenders”.
Trainor said that had been his decision and he thought through the council resolutions that had been delegated to him.
“I ran with that, I’ve learnt from that, so I’ll need to get clarification what is delegated.”
Piddington told Trainor he had confidence in him, but as it was probably “the biggest vertical build in 50 years in Timaru”, as elected governance they should have seen the detail before it went out.
Councillors decided to go ahead with a new proposal to upgrade the Theatre Royal and build a new museum behind it at a meeting in October.
At that meeting, Trainor said it was the council’s preference to use local contractors and he gave an assurance local would mean Timaru District rather than wider Canterbury.