Price of Nunawading Community Hub divides Whitehorse councillors

THE opportunity to save more than $1.5 million of ratepayers’ money has divided Whitehorse councillors in choosing a company to build the Nunawading Community Hub.

Whitehorse Council bought the former Nunawading Primary School site from the State Government to use as a site for the community hub. Picture: Steve Tanner

THE opportunity to save more than $1.5 million of ratepayers’ money has divided Whitehorse councillors in choosing a company to build the Nunawading Community Hub.

After debating over two potential tenderers, it was agreed to contract Ireland Brown Construction Pty Ltd to build the community centre at a cost of $24,666,433, including GST, at a meeting last Monday, September 10.

But a suggestion to rescind this decision and instead appoint Buxton Constructions (Vic) Pty Ltd to the job for $26,256,349 including GST is scheduled for tonight’s meeting.

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Use of Buxton Constructions was initially pushed for by councillors last Monday, as council officers had recommended.

Councillor Ben Stennett argued Buxton Constructions had the relevant experience to produce the green-star facility in the desired timeline — by the end of 2019.

Whitehorse Council bought the former Nunawading Primary School site from the State Government to use as a site for the community hub. Picture: Steve Tanner

But other councillors fought against this suggestion, with Cr Bill Bennett saying a “significant” amount of money could be saved by “revisiting other tenderers who have appropriately been designated as being able to deliver this project”.

Cr Blair Barker said: “Why on earth would we pick a significantly higher bid if we’got confidence in the robustness and the resilience of our systems and we have confidence in our people.

“That sort of money buys us a lot of benefit that the rest of the community is looking for.”

The site has been in a derelict and vandalised condition for years. Picture: Steve Tanner

Cr Andrew Munroe said price was just one criteria of assessment.

“There’s an old saying: ‘you get what you pay for’,” he said.

Whitehorse Residents and Ratepayers Association president Tanya Tescher said the suggestion to change the chosen tenderer was “perpetuating a culture of gross wastage of ratepayers’ hard-earned money”.

“This is really about councillors wasting money,” she said.

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The council declined to initiate a contract for the hub’s build last month in an attempt to drive down the costs posed by tenderers — which all exceeded the $28 million budget agreed on by the council for the hub’s design and construction in 2015.

Some tenderers lowered the price but still quoted costs higher than the budget had forecast, meaning the project will spill over budget in any outcome.