Mayor Tom Tate halts 'shovel ready' plan to relocate council chambers
Gold Coast Council has dramatically halted plans to relocate its chambers after councillors raised concerns about escalating costs of the ambitious project.
A decision by councillors will see the planned relocation of the Gold Coast City Council chambers stalled due to increasing concerns about budget spending.
Mayor Tom Tate in a “mayoral minute” 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 said.
The cost has never been revealed but City sources confirm some councillors have become increasingly concerned about spending in the lead-up to budget sessions.
“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.
Mr Tate told councillors, at a full council meeting on Monday, that the project had reached “shovel ready” stage.
“Given other significant council-approved projects are endorsed and delivery imminent, it is an opportune time to consider whether this project may be paused,” he said.
Pausing the chamber move would ensure all community projects were delivered in a “strategic and prioritised manner”.
The City entity Invest Gold Coast was progressing a “holistic Bundall precinct masterplan” which will determine where all the moving parts in the precincts settle.
A future chamber move would now be considered as part of the long term City administration accommodation plan.
Stalling further work means nothing will occur until Invest Gold Coast delivers the precinct planning project in early 2026.
The decision by councillors will only further fuel speculation among staffers as to what will occur next in the office precinct.
Staffers said there was confusion among employees on where they would be relocated after the City “emptied out” the Nerang Administration Centre and Miami Depot.
A staffer said many employees were being “pushed over to the Waterside building” in the Bundall precinct.
In August, the plans were first revealed on transforming the Coast’s cultural heart, with council chambers bulldozed to allow HOTA to become an exclusive arts precinct.
The potential was for the arts precinct to have a luxury hotel and new theatre.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink how we use one of our most valuable civic assets,” a City spokesperson said, of the plans.
“Relocating the chambers will allow us to explore bold new uses for the HOTA site, aligned with our long-term vision for the precinct as a cultural and creative hub for the city.”
Councillors began meeting in the chambers at the “Beehive” in 1976, before that building was demolished for HOTA’s outdoor concert stage.
The new chambers were built in 2004.
Only councillors Peter Young, Donna Gates and Dan Doran voted against the proposal to create the Bundall Precinct Masterplan when it came before council in a “mayoral minute” in August.
Their concerns included costs, timing and moving the City Chambers out of HOTA.
Mr Young said he had concerns about the cost of a Lyric Theatre following a recent briefing.
He said a report showed council was “seeking significant rise in capital allocation for that project”.
