By Raquel Mustillo
A BUDGET variation of almost $300,000 to proceed with detailed designs and plans for Wattle Range Council’s proposed $5.5m new offices will be considered at this week’s monthly meeting.
Concept plans for the multi-million dollar facility, which will be located on the corner of Williams Road and North Terrace in Millicent have been released, with staff seeking a $295,000 budget variation to undertake further detailed plans.
Locally sourced Mount Gambier stone and cross-laminated timber has been proposed to be used in construction, with the exterior comprising of VM zinc and Australian-designed steel roof cladding.
According to a staff report, elected member endorsement is required to approve progressing to the next stage and facilitate the architects to engage engineers for the development of detailed engineering designs and build cost estimates.
The report said the capital cost for the construction will be estimated alongside the development of the detail engineering plans.
“Detailed engineering is a very important phase and process in project implementation as it applies all technical disciplines needed… to establish the set of deliverables,” the report said.
“Significant data involving the details of design solutions, assumptions, specifications and conformance to standards will be carefully reviewed and confirmed for construction in this stage.
“Council approval may be sought for reasonable modifications in the design to ensure that practical, sustainable and cost-effective solutions can be realised.”
The report estimated the development of designs would be undertaken between September to December 2021, with construction expected to start from July 2022.
Wattle Range Council’s 2021/22 annual business plan and budget did not include any funding for the multi-million dollar project, with a $295,000 budget variation required to progress the project.
Last financial year, council allocated $165,000 towards design and documentation services, with $51,000 of that allocation spent to date on the concept design.
