Tauranga City Commissioners, in a council meeting in late February, have agreed to consult with the community on cost options to create the new Civic Project Master Plan.
The first option is for a library/civic/whare (venue for council and community meetings, museum and exhibition space.
It includes the development of the waterfront reserve between Hamilton Street and Wharf Street, linking the harbour to the civic precinct via Masonic Park.
The second option includes a library and community hub and the civic whare.
The first option would cost $303.4 million and take six years while the second option would cost $126. 8 million and could take an estimated 14 years.
Staff recommended the first option as it could be completed in six years and carried out as a single stage project, according to programme director of civic redevelopment projects Mike Naude.
The second option would invoice individual builds carried out in silos. The advantage of option one was that the council would be able to consolidate the designers, labour and production costs, the meeting heard.
“It’s important we see this as a holistic campus plan being delivered rather than a large ongoing set of projects,” said Naude.
“Making sure you don’t have a stop-go and have full continuation will certainly speed up delivery of the project,” he said.
Half of the cost is expected to be debt funded and financed through rates with the balance coming from the sale of non-core government assets, government grants and sponsorship. However, the funding needed was yet to be sourced.
