Yarra Ranges Council will pump another $3.6 million into its Lilydale civic centre redevelopment

MORE than $30 million in ratepayers money will be poured into Yarra Ranges Council civic centre redevelopment project after a budget blowout.

Designs for Yarra Ranges Council office redevelopment.

MORE than $30 million in ratepayers’ money will be poured into Yarra Ranges Council civic centre redevelopment project after a budget blowout.

Councillors gave the green light for officers to pump an extra $3.6 million into the $28 million budget for 15 Anderson St with the blame falling on rising building industry costs and a lack of money for unforeseen project expenses.

Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader previously reported the 5500sq m plans would replace council’s buildings that have cracked walls and uneven floors, with new chambers, staff offices, meetings rooms and space for functions and community use.

There will also be 350 parking spaces for staff and visitors.

Yarra Ranges chief executive Glenn Patterson said a review of the project cost plan revealed the council had only allocated a 5 per cent construction contingency, instead of 10.

“As the designs were signed off 19 months ago and there are now more publicly funded works happening across the state, the price of construction has increased substantially,” Mr Patterson said.

Cr Tony Stevenson said the council had discovered discrepancies when moving through its design process that added to the cost.

“We discovered we’re in a very hot market at the moment for construction … it puts price pressure on projects like this,” Cr Stevenson said.

“The reality is, under these economic circumstances, it is pushing up the price.”

But Cr Fiona McAllister said while she supported the need for the civic centre redevelopment, she could not back the increase in money.

“An increase of over 12 per cent in the total project I can’t support,” Cr McAllister said.

“We have set budget for this and we should stick with it.”

She said while $3 million dollars did not sound like much, it would make a huge difference in the community.

Cr McAllister said she believed the council’s team did not need the extra contingency money to complete the project.