Advocates for Townsville’s Civic Theatre upgrade disappointed with business case findings
The previously confidential business case on the “overlooked” Concert Hall for Townsville has been released to the public, after the Federal Government had previously refused to release it.
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The previously confidential business case on the “overlooked” concert hall for Townsville has been released to the public, with it blasted as a waste of time and money.
In April 2022, AECOM was announced as the winner of the tender to develop a $2m business case for a new concert hall in Townsville.
The Townsville Concert Hall Detailed Business Case was finalised in September 2023 but was only released to the public this year on January 30.
Due to be completed in June 2023, AECOM’s $2m concert hall business case would name a preferred location from seven being considered, and inform Townsville City Council’s $700,000 business case into a North Australia Arts Precinct.
Advocates for the Civic Theatre upgrade option to create the Townsville Performing Arts Centre were disappointed to find that there wasn’t a detailed examination of the TPAC bid, after it failed to reach the top three of preferred locations due in the scoring on multiple criteria.
The conclusion of the report found The Hive was considered the best option, with the report stating “while all sites assessed can achieve the ultimate and intended goals of development, the preferred site for the construction of the concert hall is The Hive – followed by The Strand as an alternative site- due to the higher capacity to generate the magnitude of non-use benefits that could be achieved through development on these two sites.”
The Hive site has now been listed for sale.
The SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) analysis outlined in the now published report show Dean Street was considered the most favourable, followed by The Strand, The Hive, Reid Park (current location of the Civic Theatre), Riverway, Breakwater Marina and the CBD (railyards).
The top four choices were carried over into the next stage of analysis, where they were assessed on area including site accessibility, ownership and tenure, environmental impacts, spatial fit and economic activation, as well as legal restrictions and flood impacts.
Townsville Performing Arts Centre (TPAC) steering committee charman Trevor Keeling said it was interesting to see a large and comprehensive document that from the outset is a study with a “narrow focus”.
“Ultimately, the document advocates for a state-government run, stand-alone concert hall,” he said.
“It has completely failed to take into account a fully-costed, researched, designed and community-driven concert hall project which is TPAC – costed in August 2021 at $75m.”
He says the original plan from the beginning was to have the Civic Theatre be stage one of a performing arts hub, with stage two (including a restaurant, second building and a drama theatre) to be built in 1983, which never happened.
Mr Keeling said despite being supplied with detailed information to support the idea to contain the concert hall within a performing arts complex, this was never considered.
“The document suggests that the ideal site would be The Hive,” he said.
“It is interesting that this should be concluded bearing in mind that ten years ago the council had rejected this proposal on financial viability grounds.”
Townsville Community Music Centre president Simon McConnell said the report was a “complete waste of money and time”.
“It has delayed any discussion or progress towards addressing our theatre needs for 2 and a half years and made no useful contribution,” he said.
Mr McConnell said the only sensible recommendation from the report was that management should be by an independent not for profit trust.
Saying Townsville is “desperate” for theatre facilities, Mr McConnell renewed the push for the Civic Theatre upgrade to be the way forward.
“Even 50 years ago the performing arts centre was clearly established as the only cost effective model for theatre construction and operation, “ he said.
“The report has clearly been prepared by consultants unfamiliar with the arts or how arts facilities work.”
The business case found 10 recommendations including that the federal, state and local government nominate a Project Proponent to carry to project forward and undertake processes to reduce the total capital cost of the project.
Another recommendation was to establish an independent ‘Townsville Arts Trust’ and the construction cost of the facility to be sourced from grant funding.
The concert hall was part of the 15-year-long Townsville City Deal, which was signed in December 2016, aiming to unlock economic potential for the city.
The City Deal outlined the need for a new performing arts facility in Townsville off the back of several rounds of stakeholder engagements.
The report said ‘current performing arts facilities in Townsville were not designed to cater to a local population of nearly 200,000 people, nor a broader regional northern Queensland population of nearly 400,000 people’.
Several conceptual plans of suggested locations were presented, including at The Hive on Flinders Street with the report stating the location’s capacity to “make an iconic statement that will transform the CBD.
Other locations included Dean Park, the former Townsville Bowls Club site and the redevelopment of the Townsville Civic Theatre.
In June 2023, the Queensland Government put forth $50m for the proposed concert hall, in addition to the $100m set aside by the federal government.
The controversial project was left up in the air in August last year when Townsville City Council voted to divert $100m of the Townsville City Deal funding, planned for the concert hall, to be instead given to the rebuild of Reef HQ.
Liam Mooney and Brady Ellis voted against the decision to do so.
The council made its decision after councillors were told that the costs of the $98m concert hall had increased, which would have been passed onto ratepayers without any further funding commitments from the state and federal governments.
At the time Federal Herbert MP Phillip Thompson blasted the move, calling it “an atrocious political sellout”, saying “the people of Townsville have been screwed over today” and called for the business case to be published.
The decision was confirmed at the 2024 Bush Summit in Townsville by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, with protesters from the city’s classical music society outside The Ville angry over the decision to overlook the concert hall.
An online poll in April 2023 asked Townsville Bulletin readers for the ideal location for the concert hall.
The Townsville Civic Theatre precinct finished at top of the tally with 59 per cent of the vote – nearly triple the next highest option at Dean Park with 22 per cent of the vote.
In a tie for third, with seven per cent were the two options along The Strand, the Hive development, or across the road from Enterprise House and the former Townsville Bowls Club were located.
There was strong support calling for an upgrade to the Civic Theatre from Townsville Community Music Centre president Simon McConnell.
Since 2015 his group alongside the Barrier Reef Orchestra, Townsville Eisteddfod, Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition have pushed for the $75m Townsville Performing Arts Centre (TPAC) proposal to become a reality.
The proposal included an 800-seat concert hall, 200-seat drama theatre, a 2000-capacity amphitheatre, foyers to host up to 1000 people and an 800 capacity carpark.
In 2021, MP Phillip Thompson pledged $100m towards building a new concert hall, which was signed off by all three levels of the government.
$2m of federal funding was set aside for consultancy to determine a business case for the construction, operational costs and the management model.
The then-federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher confirmed in writing that TPAC would be an ‘integral part of the process’.
Moving forward Mr Keeling said the ideal next step would be for the council to take a “common-sense and wholistic” approach to Townsville arts scene.
He believes Townsville needs to catch up to the rest of regional Queensland, saying Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton are way ahead in terms of arts infrastructure.
“Are we to wait another 47 years for Council to complete the performing arts centre that it vowed to finish when the Townsville Civic Theatre opened in 1978?,” he said.
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