Rising costs hitting library project

Published on 03 March 2023

Council is continuing to save money and look for alternative funding streams for the new library project as construction and labour costs continue to spiral across the country.

Ongoing engineering discussions with the preferred tenderer for the new library project, North Building & Construction Pty Ltd, has resulted in a potential tender cost saving of $1.5 million, however Council is still assessing all its options as the project rolls on.

Council last night voted to begin the first stage of the project, which will involve work to transform the ground floor of Council's Administrative Centre into a temporary library for the project's duration, as well as improve the surrounding carpark to enable better community access.

Council's General Manager, Jay Nankivell, said the cost of the library was continuing to rise despite Council's best efforts to take a sensible approach to the project.

"When the new library was first conceived it was slated as a $20 million-plus project, however 12 months ago we rescoped it to a more modest build that was going to cost us around $12 million at the time," he said.

"This scaling back of the project has proven to be critically important. Had we still been sitting on over $20 million worth of construction when these cost spikes hit the project would have been unrecoverable financially.

"Despite this work to bring the project back to that $12 million mark, we've since seen costs jump back up again by about 80 per cent due to industry forces out of our control such as labour cost, skills shortages, and increased material costs.

"It's frustrating for staff who have been working so hard on the project, it's frustrating for Councillors who want to deliver the project to the community, and it's frustrating for the many library users who have been waiting a long time for a modern facility."

Mr Nankivell said Council would continue to find ways to drive the project forward in the face of rising costs.

"We've had some positive conversations with the Federal Government around some relief funding, and also with the State Government - although we understand they're somewhat hamstrung in relation to allocating funding given the NSW Election is just around the corner," he said.

"But in the meantime we're continually looking at ways we can deliver the project, be it through different staging options, design changes, or material changes, and we remain confident in commencing the construction of a new library and archive for the community.“

Council will begin removing archive material from the current library building on March 7, with construction work on the temporary library to begin in the coming months.