It was meant to be an expansive, light-filled building with a rooftop terrace and sweeping water views near Jervis Bay, built on the back of a $7.5 million election promise and designed by the architects behind the North Sydney Olympic Pool upgrade.
But Shoalhaven City Council has had to abandon its grandiose vision for a new district library in Sanctuary Point, a town of 8000 people in the most marginal electorate in the country, after the project’s price tag doubled over three years to more than $30 million.
Brewster Hjorth’s concept plans for the Sanctuary Point district library.
Liberal councillor Paul Ell said his colleagues were “reeling” when council staff revealed late last year the likely bill for the project.
“I think people are shocked that a library could possibly cost anywhere near $30 million,” said Ell, who will miss out on running for Shoalhaven mayor on Saturday because of the Liberal Party’s bungled nomination process.
“[But] we can’t allow that money, $7.5 million, to go wanting. That would be a complete disaster.”
Federal Labor member Fiona Phillips promised $7.5 million for the library - half the anticipated cost - during the 2022 election campaign, when she was locked in a tight battle with former state Liberal minister Andrew Constance for her seat of Gilmore. She eventually won with a margin of 0.34 per cent.
But the council only secured the $7.5 million in January this year, almost two years later, out of a $950 million fund set up to deliver Labor’s election promises. By then, the council was struggling financially and construction costs nationwide had jumped 17.4 per cent. And the price of the project had hit $30 million.
The council ditched the approved plans in July, despite having spent $1.4 million on them, and will now pursue a more modest design from architects Brewster Hjorth. Councillors agreed to skip the tender process and reappoint the firm to save time and money.
Brewster Hjorth, which did not respond to a request for comment, is facing legal action over its work on the North Sydney Olympic Pool renovation, which has been plagued by cost blowouts and delays.
Shoalhaven City Council said rising construction costs were to blame for the price of its new library rising from a budgeted $14 million in 2021 to $30 million-plus.
Paul Ell, second from left, with Andrew Constance and Scott Morrison during the 2022 election campaign.Credit: James Brickwood
Brewster Hjroth delivered the plans in early 2021 and the council appointed a project manager in 2022, who realised the designs would blow the budget, outgoing mayor Amanda Findley said.
“Staff looked at the plan and they said ‘mmm, we’re not sure this is going to fit in the budget’, and they had it value-checked and it came in at $7 million above,” Findley said.
“I think [Brewster Hjorth] is a victim of poor circumstances really. Part of that perhaps came around by the instructions given to them,” Findley said.
“They’ve done plenty of projects on budget and on time before.”
Then opposition leader Anthony Albanese with local Labor MP Fiona Phillips at Bomaderry during the 2022 election campaign.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The council decided to build the district library in 2018 to serve the growing population around Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin, and to provide an economic boost to Sanctuary Point.
It had expected to start building in late 2022 and submitted a development application to the state Department of Planning in February that year, but was told to rework the designs to avoid tree removal. It resubmitted the plans 15 months later and they were approved within the month.
Findley said given the size of the project, it wasn’t taking an unusually long time to deliver.
The council hopes it will be able to retain the federal grant to build a smaller library, probably without a rooftop terrace.
The project must be finished by December 2026 under the grant conditions, but Phillips moved to allay concerns the council would have to hand the money back.
“[I] can assure the community that the $7.5 million in federal funding remains available for when the project is ready to go, in whatever form that may be,” she said, adding Sanctuary Point needed a bigger and better library than the one it had.
The funding comes from the invitation-only Priority Community Infrastructure Program, which the government set up in February 2023 to deliver its bigger community-focused election commitments.
Other grants under the program include almost $30 million for parks in Sydney electorates, including Bennelong and Lindsay, and more than $141 million for projects across Tasmania’s five electorates.
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development took 10 months to approve the council’s grant application.
The department also extended the deadline for all applications last year, “to ensure applicants are not unfairly disadvantaged by delays in issuing or receiving invitations to apply”.
It said the grants program had “robust guidelines and assessment criteria” and nearly all projects were in various stages of development and delivery.