New partnership planned for $150m Darwin Civic Centre

The Lord Mayor has unveiled plans for a new civic centre to replace the existing council chambers. See how it looks.

New Darwin Civic Centre plans have been unveiled.

City of Darwin will partner with Territory construction company DCOH to build a new $150m civic centre adjacent to the existing structure.

Council voted unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting to support the development, with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on Wednesday unveiling concept drawings of the new building, which is scheduled for completion in 2028.

The new 20-storey structure will be built in the existing chamber’s carpark, with the old building set to remain operational until its replacement has opened.

City of Darwin’s proposed new civic centre.

The lower 10 floors of the new building will be dedicated council space including two floors containing customer service, the new library, a new function space, Council Chambers, public meeting rooms and community space.

There will be an additional three floors of office space for staff and five floors of carparking and building operational space, with the top 10 levels designated commercial office space for DCOH including 10,000sq m of net lettable area within the project.

City of Darwin will contribute $77m for the proposed development including $49m from its carparking fund for about 400 new parking bays and about $30m in borrowings, with the remainder being bankrolled by DCOH.

DCOH managing director Shane Dignan, City of Darwin chief executive Simone Saunders and Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis at the announcement of the new civic centre. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Lord Mayor said the 50-year-old civic centre building was “unserviceable”, no-longer fit for purpose and a health and safety risk.

“We can’t borrow money for maintenance, so that means we have to increase the rates for the people and there’s no way we’re going to do this, especially under the current cost of living climate.”

He said the project attracted interest from around Australia, but DCOH contributed a very good submission.

“We had interest from around Australia but at the moment there’s a lot of work around Australia and here in Darwin we had a people came with a really good submission,” he said. “Now what’s the point of going around Australia when we have a really good submission here that went through the probity auditors and it was deemed to comply.

Chief executive Simone Saunders and Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis at the new civic centre launch. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“It came to council we looked at it and we chose a really good company, which happens to be a local company so the money will stay here.”

Mr Vatskalis flagged parts of the existing chambers, such as memorials for Cyclone Tracy and the Bombing of Darwin, would be retained by necessity but the majority of the building would be demolished and replaced by a civic plaza.

“The majority of it will go and we’ll open this place completely for the public,” he said. “We’re going to have a cafe, we’re going to have an area where people can sit like an amphitheatre. We’ll focus on the construction of the new building and then when that’s finished and we move in, we’ll start looking seriously about what we’re going to do, but our idea is open the place up, let the people come here.”

The civic centre contract renews the successful partnership struck between CoD and DCOH after the success of the Casuarina swimming pool upgrade, which came in under time and under budget.

“Our partnership with the City of Darwin as a local private developer highlights our commitment to growing the Territory,” Mr Dignan said.

“With proven expertise in delivering large-scale commercial assets, we are confident in our ability to deliver projects on time and within budget, creating value for the community and our stakeholders.”