Gympie council reveals Civic Centre to stay shut for 2023

Hopes for the reopening of Gympie’s main artistic hub after it was controversially shut more than two years ago have been dealt a major blow.

Gympie Regional Council (Mayor Glen Hartwig, inset left, and acting CEO David Lewis, inset right) has revealed the Civic Centre will remain shut for 2023 following extensive mould damage caused by the 2022 floods.

Plans to reopen the Gympie Civic Centre in 2023 have been shattered following the discovery of extensive mould infestations caused by the trio of 2022 flood disasters.

A statement from the council revealed the building, shut in 2020 ahead of planned restoration work, will now remain closed for the duration of the year.

Acting communications manager Tom Daunt said this was due to “extensive damage sustained during the February and May 2022 weather events”.

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“The extent of the damage to the Civic Centre is worse than council anticipated,” Mr Daunt said.

“Because of how the building was originally designed it was found that the airconditioning intake located under the building, was drawing in moisture from the weather events and spreading dangerous mould sports to all corners of the building, including the roof cavity.

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Mould damage from the 2022 floods has forced the Gympie Civic Centre to remain shut for 2023, continuing its controversial shutdown now already two years long.

“The vast majority of fixtures and fittings have been removed due to the health risks they present.”

It is yet another blow for the council, which has come under fire over the building’s extended shutdown and continually spiralling repair costs.

Planned $1.5m renovation costs to the Civic Centre have since ballooned to $2.8m as a result of the damage caused by the 2022 floods.

It was then taken over by the state government and used as a mass vaccination hub during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Following this, the original restoration was put on hold after asbestos and other safety problems came to light.

An expected $1.5m facelift then blew out to $2.8m in the wake of the floods.

Many of the fittings at the Civic Centre have been removed as a result of the damage.

Plans were floated to reopen the Centre in December 2022 but on Friday they had been scuttled.

“We will keep the community updated on the project’s progress,” Mr Daunt said.

The council said the mould damage was behind the decision to controversially throw out a wooden statue of a miner, which had been a fixture of the foyer for years.

Acting CEO David Lewis said the old damage had turned the statue into a “biohazard”.