At the December Council meeting, the decision was made to temporarily defer the next stage of the Railway Station Building restoration project, in order to investigate the budget required to bring the project to completion. 

The Council is committed to completing this project. Some of the costs to date are higher than originally forecast as a result of the completion of the outside restoration of the buildings, the earthquake strengthening work, the underfloor piling, the veranda piling and the internal fit out of building 2.

“It is disappointing that our original forecast for the restoration project didn’t completely assess the financial size, as WDC prides itself on delivering projects on time, and to budget.” Says Waitomo District Mayor Brian Hanna.

“However, we always knew there was risk attached to this building restoration project, due to the fact that these buildings were over 100 years old, and had not had any building maintenance work for many, many years”. “It was not until the building was opened up, walls were removed and we got a better look at the buildinsg that we were in a better position to accurately estimate the extent of earthquake strengthening work required.”

“Another key factor was that Council took a staged approach to the restoration project – over several years. This meant that our budget forecasts were exposed to the risk that the actual inflation in building costs might be much higher than originally estimated. The actual Building Cost Index (BCI) figures for 2014/15 year were 5.8% and for 2015/16 were 1.8%. This outcome impacted on the original budget forecast for the overall project as well.”

“Council agreed unanimously the best decision was to carry on and finish this project as it forms part of the overarching economic development strategy to reinvigorate Te Kuiti, and has a huge amount of public support” Says Mayor Brian Hanna.

NEXT STAGE OF PROJECT TO COMMENCE IN APRIL

Waitomo District Council is pleased to announce the next and final stage of the Railway Building restoration project will begin on the 11^th April.

The Tender of $421,000 was awarded to ESN Construction Limited of Hamilton. No local tenders were received.

The project will see the internal refurbishment of railway building 1 and the structural linking of that building with the Te Kuiti i-SITE Visitor Information Centre.

During the construction period the Visitor Information Centre Service will be temporarily relocated to the old NZ Post Building on Rora Street.

The creation of a Community Space in building 1 will complete the project to create a vibrant hub within Te Kuiti’s CBD. Council will have the ability to provide some services from the completed Visitor Information Centre and local community groups and organisations will have the opportunity to let the space within building 1.

Council anticipates that the construction period will be 3-4 months. The immediate area around building 1 will be fenced off; however the majority of construction work will be internal.

We want the public to be safe, so please take extra care when in the vicinity of the Railway Plaza over the next few months.