The Regional Library to be based in Donnison St, Gosford, is a step closer, with Central Coast Council accepting a tender from North Construction and Building for an upper limit contract sum of $29.15M to undertake the works, with final commercial terms and contract sum yet to be determined.
Council has approved an increase of $5M to the capital budget to accommodate the proposed delivery program.
Council had previously declined all tenders and entered negotiations with North Construction & Building.
A report to the Council meeting on June 27 said following an extensive negotiation process both parties are confident a contract will be able to be executed in the coming weeks.
“There are still some commercial terms to be determined and value management options agreed before a contract can be executed; however these outstanding items are considered minor and should not affect the upper limit contract value of $29,150,000,” the report said.
The library has been a long time coming, with a library levy introduced by the then Gosford Council as far back as 1996.
In 2015 Council engaged the State Library to assess five sites throughout Gosford for suitability.
For a time the library was to form part of a large cultural precinct between Mann and Donnison Sts, which was to also incorporate a performance centre and linking walkways.
In September, 2019, Council scrapped plans for the cultural precinct and resolved to pursue the development of the Gosford Regional Library as a separate project, first calling for tenders in December of that year.
A funding agreement for the construction of the library was executed with the Federal Government in February, 2020, through the Community Development Grant Program, with the project to comprise a digitally enabled modern library with smart work hubs and meeting rooms.
Designs for the new regional library include a dedicated library space, Council customer service centre, library administration, meeting rooms, flexible function spaces, maker/creator spaces and collaboration and innovation spaces for the community over four levels.
A construction budget was set and throughout the design development phase, the design of the library was regularly benchmarked against this budget using quantity surveys undertaken by the design consultant’s sub-contracted quantity surveyor.
Approval to submit a Development Application was resolved by Council in February 2021, with the report stating at that time that the design, including construction, demolition and fit out, were within the allocated budget for the project.
Subsequently, the design documentation was finalised, the DA was approved, and the tender process began.
The report said the budget for the project was initially developed in 2018, while various options associated with the proposed Gosford Cultural Precinct were being considered and before a determination was made to proceed with a regional library on the Donnison St site.
The initial estimated cost of $23.6M had been revised due to unprecedented market conditions that have led to increased construction costs and greater uncertainty by both contractors and clients in the market, it said.
“To further support the cause of these cost increases, the Producer Price Indexes for Construction publicised by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show a typical increase of 1 per cent to 2 per cent annually up until March 2021,” the report said.
“However, various external factors such as supply chain disruption and labour shortages have resulted in cost increases over the next 24 months closer to 10 per cent annually.
“This pressure resulted in the cost estimate at the 100 per cent design development stage of $26.07M, exceeding the target construction price by 10.4 per cent.”
The report said the current negotiated position with North Construction & Building was Council’s “best value option”.
In accepting the staff recommendation to proceed, Administrator Rik Hart said although the latest pricing represented around an 18 per cent increase on the initial budget, prices were continuing to escalate.
“If we keep waiting, it won’t get built,” he said.
The meeting was told the late cost estimate allowed for expected price rises over the coming year.
The library is set for completion by the end of next year.
Source:
Central Coast Council meeting, Jun 27