Update on Construction of new band rooms at West Park

Published on 10 March 2022

Over the past few months Burnie City Council has been working with the Burnie City Brass Band to address their concerns about the size of its new band room under construction at West Park.

The new band rooms (for both the Burnie City Highland Pipe Band and the Burnie City Brass Band) are being built by the University of Tasmania, as part of the relocation of the University campus to West Park.

While the Council remains of the view that the Burnie City Brass Band had agreed to the design of the new facility prior to the development proceeding, the Council has acted in good faith to attempt to resolve the concerns that have been raised, which relate to a lack of storage space for the Band.

The University has paused its construction of this new facility and actively and constructively engaged with the Council and Brass Band in an effort to address the Band’s concerns.

These negotiations have resulted in a revised design that provide an extension of the new band room that meet the Brass Band’s concerns. The Council has recently been provided with the cost estimate for the proposed changes from a quantity surveyor which indicates the estimated cost for the additional works to be in excess of $1 million.

This is not affordable for Council. Not only would this require deferring important infrastructure renewal projects in order to build the new extension, it would add an additional $33,000 to Council’s operational expenditure each year once the building is constructed and ownership passes back to the Council.

The Council have been working hard to curb our expenditure increases in an effort to ensure long term financial sustainability, with the intent of being able to keep rate increases for our community as low as possible.

The executive of the Burnie Brass Band has been advised that the Council are unable to progress the works. The Burnie City Council has asked the University to resume the construction of the new facility as originally planned. This will deliver a new home for the Burnie City Highland Pipe Band and the Burnie City Brass Band.

On completion of the construction of the new band rooms, once ownership of the building has transferred to the Council, there will be further engagement with the Brass Band in an endeavour to satisfy their concerns about this new space. Until then, the Council will offer additional storage capacity off-site as a short-term response, while longer-term affordable options are explored.

Burnie City Council would like to acknowledge and thank all parties for their assistance in working through this issue. The Council would also like to particularly acknowledge and thank the Brass Band for the constructive manner in which they too have worked to find a solution. Regrettably the negotiated solution is not affordable for our community.