Council defends multimillion-dollar office upgrades as furious staff complain about spending
Gold Coast City Council faces backlash from angry staff over multimillion-dollar office upgrades while buildings sit empty and workers face redundancies.
Council is defending itself against complaints from staff over multimillion-dollar upgrades to office space that has been left vacant for months.
Employees are furious after cost-saving worker redundancies, with a staff insider speculating about $80m was being spent on renovating Karp Court and two other buildings in the Bundall precinct.
A City spokesperson said the new accommodation fit out would “cost less than half the amount claimed”.
The City administration is defending the fit-outs, saying the upgrades will attract new tenants and money for ratepayers – but staffers remain unconvinced.
“All of this additional spending. All this expenditure is on top of the recent acquisition of The Corporate Centre and the Wyndham building,” a staffer said.
“The City’s transition to a modern, flexible workplace will save Gold Coast ratepayers more than $46m over four years, with the revenue from leasing Karp Court forecast to yield an additional $4m per year,” the council spokesperson said.
A tender to lease office space in Karp Court is now closed and submissions are being evaluated.
“We expect it to be fully tenanted within six months. The two buildings in the Corporate Centre precinct are fully tenanted and yield more than $9m a year.”
Another City employee said Karp Court had been empty for months and staffers no longer had access to a downstairs gymnasium.
A City spokesperson said all City staff could obtain a Fitness Passport which provides discounted access to more than 350 gyms, pools and facilities across the Coast.
Two of the facilities were within 400m of the Bundall precinct.
“Outdoor gym equipment is also located in the HOTA precinct,” the spokesperson said.
Just under 1000 staff had to be relocated from Karp Court to the Waterside buildings, enabling the prime Bundall office space to be leased.
The tensions among staff about the shift has put a spotlight on future plans by senior City management and CEO Tim Baker.
The debate is set to continue with councillors at the governance committee in a closed session this week to discuss a confidential item about a “commercial leasing opportunity”.
Despite some of the negative staff feedback, a City source said the changes would benefit ratepayers in the longer term.
In August, the City said 600 staff would be invited to submit an expression of interest for a voluntary redundancy.
To reach a budget savings target, 100 people would have to leave.
Mr Baker after the June budget dropped a bombshell — $75m in savings had to be found in the next 12 months.
Many councillors in recent weeks have become increasingly concerned about budget spending, sparking a decision to stall the planned relocation of the Gold Coast City Council chambers.
Mayor Tom Tate in a “mayoral minute” at last week’s full council meeting said the city administration had earlier moved quickly in a 2025-26 budget resolution to relocate the Evandale chambers to Bundall’s Corporate Court.
The plan would have allowed HOTA and cultural arts to assume total occupancy at the old Evandale headquarters and expand its operations, which includes a proposed Lyric Theatre.
The work has now progressed through survey and geotechnical works to detailed design, Mr Tate told councillors.
The cost has never been revealed.
“I think the truth of it is enough councillors have told the Mayor they are concerned about spending money on moving the chambers,” a council source said.
City entity Invest Gold Coast is progressing a “holistic Bundall precinct masterplan” to determine where all moving parts in the precincts settle.
A future chamber move would now be considered as part of the long term city administration plan with a report to be delivered early next year.
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Originally published as Council defends multimillion-dollar office upgrades as furious staff complain about spending
