$26.9 million Reef HQ upgrade to go ahead from 2021
With a fresh lick of paint, long overdue maintenance complete and lonely marine life ready for visitors, Reef HQ has set a date to finally reopen.
Townsville
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With a fresh lick of paint, long overdue maintenance complete and lonely marine life ready for visitors, Reef HQ has set a date to finally reopen.
It’s the first refresh the aquarium has had since 2012 and capital works project manager Andrew Jones said staff have been hard at work to get it in ship shape for its reopening on July 13.
He said the forced closure in response to COVID-19 offered an opportunity to a number of jobs in preparation for major works which will close the facility for at least 12 months from February 2021, as well as improving the street appeal with some fresh paint.
“We’re just looking to ensure that the structure is safe not only for the public but also the staff so we’re looking at everything as a holistic approach,” Mr Jones said.
“We can’t do heavy duty crane lifts with the public around or internal piping.”
The federally funded education attraction is the world’s largest living coral reef aquarium and without its usual turnover of 140,000 visitors a year, staff have been kept busy doing extra maintenance of tanks and exhibits.
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Reef HQ Director Kirstin Dobbs said it was unfortunate the facility wouldn’t be ready in time for school holidays but planning had already been underway before the Queensland Government relaxed restrictions.
Ms Dobbs said virtual programs would continue.
“We still have a bit to do, we need to recommission some of our exhibits and that takes time,” Ms Dobbs said.
“We’ve taken the opportunity to redesign exhibits and change things around.
“Stage three was always meant to kick in around mid-July and basically that means we’ll be able to have up to 100 people in the facility at one time.”
Reef HQ is due to undergo a four-year Federal Government-funded $26.9 million upgrade from February 2021, however a contractor is yet to be awarded.
A detailed government report released earlier this year revealed just how badly the facelift is needed, with some areas in a ‘critical’ state of disrepair.
Ms Dodd said a lot of the works would be back of house, as well as new acrylic viewing windows to its coral reef exhibit and predator tank, and upgrades to the Turtle Hospital.
“Just recently the public works committee tabled in parliament the recommendation for our proposed works,” she said.
“They were very supportive of the works going ahead and used the term expediency so were in the process of pulling together all the information of pulling together the approach to market which will go through AusTender as per our commonwealth procurement.”
Originally published as $26.9 million Reef HQ upgrade to go ahead from 2021