City committed to completion of Walyalup Civic Centre

The City of Fremantle has reaffirmed its commitment to the completion of the Walyalup Civic Centre as an integral part of the Kings Square Renewal project.

The Walyalup Civic Centre’s contracted builder Pindan Group was placed into administration yesterday.

City of Fremantle Director of City Business Glen Dougall said the City shared the community’s sympathy for Pindan employees and subcontractors.

“Over the coming days the City will be considering its legal position and speaking with the administrator to ascertain exactly where we stand and what needs to be done to move our project forward,” Mr Dougall said.

“Participating subcontractors working on the project are guaranteed payment thanks to the inclusion of a Project Bank Account as a key condition of the construction contract.

“The PBA guarantees participating subcontractors have been paid, and will continue to be paid, within one day of funds being deposited into the account.

“We insisted on this arrangement to ensure the local subcontractors employed on the project were safe from any potential cash flow problems and could be confident in employing and paying their staff and suppliers.

“We understand the current situation with Pindan is distressing for everyone involved, but we have a comprehensive contract in place and took steps from the outset to ensure that contractors, the City and our ratepayers would be protected as much as could be in the event of a situation like this occurring.

“In the meantime, our building is 90 per cent complete, so while this situation is unfortunate we are confident we can continue to program its successful completion.”

The City of Fremantle’s new Walyalup Civic Centre is an integral part of the broader $270 million Kings Square Renewal project.

The building was designed by the award-winning, Fremantle-based Kerry Hill Architects, and will feature a large, modern library, universally accessible toilets and change facilities, public meeting rooms, exhibition spaces and a state-of-the-art customer service centre.

For more information visit the Kings Square Fremantle website.