Sunshine Coast Council’s Maroochydore chambers furnishings revealed

A glimpse inside the Sunshine Coast Council’s new Maroochydore chambers reveals a mayoral bathroom, phone booths and ‘wellness’ spaces in the $100m build. VOTE IN OUR POLL

The first glimpse inside Sunshine Coast Council’s $100m Maroochydore chambers reveals Mayor Mark Jamieson’s office will feature a private robe and ensuite.

The council has opened tenders for furnishings of its “landmark” CBD building with contemporary features.

A council spokesman would not respond to questions about who requested the mayor’s private bathroom but said plans were based on “best practice”.

“The project team followed best practice and allowed for basic amenities adjacent to the Mayor’s office, for use by the Mayor and the many dignitaries who would visit Sunshine Coast City Hall over the building’s life,” the spokesman said.

The council added $20m to its City Hall budget, taking it to $100m, in November 2021 because furniture was not included in the original budget.

The increased budget was also reportedly due to construction delays and to allow for a $7.8m buffer to mitigate against further cost blow outs.

An artist's impression of Council's new City Hall building in the Maroochydore CBD.

Earlier figures suggested construction and fit out would cost $80m.

The tender documents were released early March and reveal the furniture requirements for spaces such as the wellness area, lounge spaces and balconies.

The list includes hundreds of office chairs, as well as lounges, solid oak stools, rattan egg chairs and two bean bags for some more comfortable options.

The chambers will also feature phone booths, a parent room and a cafe-style kitchen for staff.

“The fit-out of the new building responds to industry best practice in contemporary workspace,” a spokesman said.

“The design focuses on using space to support diverse ways of working and deliver service agility to meet customer expectation.”

They said most of the council’s existing furniture reached “natural end-of-life” but they would consider opportunities to repair, re-use, sell or donate and recycle.

They said the tender was structured into eight separable portions, including task chairs, workstations, storage, tables, meeting chairs, informal chairs, phone booths and miscellaneous.

The 10-storey building is expected to have a five-star green rating.

It will feature working zones, dedicated multipurpose rooms for “contemplation, parenting and first aid” as well as meeting and training rooms.

It will include tenancies on ground level, the chambers and back of house functions on level one, operational space on levels three to eight.

The office of the mayor, councillors and CEO will be on fourth floor.

The ninth floor will be dedicated to civic and community spaces.

A cafe is earmarked for one of the ground floor tenancies.

McNab is building the city hall at the corner of South Sea Islander Way and First Ave, Maroochydore.

Approximately 600 council staff will work there with the building to include customer contact, the council chamber, offices as well as retail spaces.

Tenders are being accepted until March 29 with a decision expected to be made mid-April.

According to the documents the council wants all furniture to be installed by August 31.