City of Newcastle has\u00a0now\u00a0closed out\u00a0all\u00a0four projects\u00a0associated with its move to\u00a0a\u00a0new administrative building at 12 Stewart Avenue\u00a0in Newcastle West.
\nWith the\u00a0work complete, City of Newcastle can now\u00a0report to the public on the total cost\u00a0of each of the four projects.
\nThis decision is in keeping with City of Newcastle\u2019s own long held plans and aligns with NSW Government priorities to shift the CBD west as part of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan, while also providing modern facilities for its employees.
\nThe Roundhouse\u00a0itself\u00a0will\u00a0reopen in early\u00a02021\u00a0as the city\u2019s first\u00a0five-star\u00a0hotel after being sold\u00a0in\u00a0late\u00a02018\u00a0for $16.5 million\u00a0(plus GST).
\nThe four projects\u00a0delivered as part of the move to 12 Stewart Avenue\u00a0include:<\/p>\n
City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said the relocation\u00a0was the first\u00a0modernisation of the organisation in more than 40 years and had resulted in a\u00a0better work environment, more efficient systems,\u00a0greater flexibility\u00a0and\u00a0improved staff culture,\u00a0providing an improved service for residents and ratepayers.
\nIt also enabled\u00a0450\u00a0staff\u00a0who had been\u00a0spread across three separate buildings and 13 floors to be\u00a0working together\u00a0under the one roof.
\n\u201cRelocating our City Administration Centre to Newcastle West has\u00a0provided our staff with\u00a0a\u00a0new fit-for-purpose office featuring\u00a0modern amenities, a flexible design, community areas and meeting rooms to encourage better communication and collaborative decision-making,\u201d Mr Bath said.
\n\u201cOur\u00a0Level 1\u00a0Customer Service Centre reflects our move towards enhancing the\u00a0experience community members have when transacting business with city staff\u00a0and has been\u00a0co-located\u00a0with the most digitally advanced library in NSW\u00a0to\u00a0provide\u00a0our community with access to state-of-the-art technologies.
\n\u201cThis space has been designed to double as the Council Chamber when meetings occur twice each month and is equipped with technology that allows for\u00a0the community to directly participate in Council meetings without\u00a0the need to\u00a0leave\u00a0their home.
\n\u201cA\u00a0purpose-built\u00a0local emergency operations centre\u00a0was also created as part of our move to Newcastle West,\u00a0providing a dedicated space where\u00a0City of Newcastle\u00a0can\u00a0work with emergency services\u00a0including\u00a0Police, SES,\u00a0Fire and Rescue NSW,\u00a0NSW Ambulance\u00a0and others\u00a0to deliver\u00a0a\u00a0coordinated response\u00a0to natural disasters and other incidents.
\n\u201cAll these elements\u00a0have\u00a0come together to\u00a0deliver\u00a0an environment in which staff can\u00a0make more collaborative decisions and therefore better serve the residents of Newcastle.\u201d
\nCity of Newcastle was the first of four local councils to bring their administration centre up to contemporary work standards, with a frugal approach that compares favourably to\u00a0the nearby projects.
\n\u201cLake\u00a0Macquarie\u00a0City\u00a0Council\u00a0is spending $17.8m on their fit-out,\u00a0Mid Coast Council\u00a0has budgeted\u00a0$20m and Maitland\u2019s project\u00a0is budgeted at\u00a0$28m,\u201d Mr Bath said.
\n\u201cThe\u00a0$8.3m\u00a0spent on our relocation\u00a0is evidence of the frugal approach we have taken, while the move itself\u00a0also allowed us to identify cost effective\u00a0co-locatable\u00a0opportunities\u00a0such as the Digital Library and LEOC, which\u00a0if built elsewhere would have\u00a0come at a considerably larger\u00a0expense.\u201d
\nMr Bath said the\u00a0relocation paved the way for the\u00a0revitalisation of the\u00a0Civic\u00a0cultural\u00a0precinct\u00a0and the sale of\u00a0properties\u00a0including the Roundhouse and the Frederick Ash Building.
\n\u201cThe sale of these buildings has allowed us to direct significantly more funds into\u00a0projects that benefit\u00a0the\u00a0community,\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0$16.5 million\u00a0proceeds\u00a0from the Roundhouse\u00a0going directly towards\u00a0our\u00a0record $116 million program of upgrading and improving key community assets,\u201d Mr Bath said.
\n\u201cAnother\u00a0$9.5 million from the sale of\u00a0three properties including\u00a0the\u00a0Frederick Ash building\u00a0is being used to\u00a0part fund the much-needed restoration of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, with the first stage upgrade to the pools and lower promenade starting\u00a0next year.\u201d
\nNewcastle Lord Mayor\u00a0Nuatali\u00a0Nelmes said the relocation was in line with City of Newcastle\u2019s own long held plans, as well as NSW Government priorities to shift the CBD west as a catalytic site in the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan.
\n\u201cThis area is rapidly transforming into Newcastle\u2019s new CBD.\u00a0We\u2019re pleased to be part of this strategic shift, which is not only revitalising a long dormant part of the city but is also allowing new life to be injected into our civic cultural precinct and some of our most treasured community facilities,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.
\n\u201cFour projects have been delivered as part of the move to 12 Stewart Avenue, including office space for our administrative staff, a brand new, state-of-the-art Digital Library, the new Council Chamber, and the purpose-built Local Emergency Operations Centre.
\n\u201cThis is designed to provide the best value to our residents and a seamless experience for all community members.
\n\u201cI would like to thank the following\u00a0Councillors who\u00a0along with me voted in favour of the\u00a0decision to relocate the majority of our indoor staff to\u00a012 Stewart Avenue:<\/p>\n
| Project<\/th>\n | Final Cost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Relocation to 12 Stewart Avenue\u00a0<\/strong>Project Management (APP) \nDesign (Inc. design & cost consultancies, certification & approvals) \nStaff relocation \nConstruction (Inc. preliminaries & margin) \nCarpet rebate under lease terms<\/td>\n $8,389,994\u00a0<\/strong> | \n$273,840 \n$363,306 \n$45,384 \n$8,061,664 \n-$354,200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 2. Local Emergency Operations Centre \u00a0<\/strong> | \nProject Management (APP) \nDesign (Inc. design & cost consultancies, certification & approvals) \nConstruction (materials, labour, preliminaries & margin)<\/td>\n $2,173,982\u00a0<\/strong> | \n$154,830 \n$167,924 \n$1,851,228<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 3. Digital Library\u00a0<\/strong> | \nProject Management (APP) \nDesign (Inc. design & cost consultancies, certification & approvals) \nConstruction (Inc. preliminaries & margin)<\/td>\n $3,267,465\u00a0<\/strong> | \n$248,483 \n$261,215 \n$2,757,767<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 4. Council Chamber\u00a0<\/strong> | \nProject Management (APP) \nDesign (Inc. design & cost consultancies, certification & approvals) \nConstruction (Inc. preliminaries & margin)<\/td>\n $1,041,824\u00a0<\/strong> | \n$83,365 \n$74,633 \n$883,826<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Contract administration (Graphite Projects) for all four projects, as well as associated costs including signage, flagpoles, etc<\/td>\n | $2,749,827<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" | City of Newcastle has\u00a0now\u00a0closed out\u00a0all\u00a0four projects\u00a0associated with its move to\u00a0a\u00a0new administrative building at 12 Stewart Avenue\u00a0in Newcastle West. With the\u00a0work complete, City of Newcastle can now\u00a0report to the public on the total cost\u00a0of each of the four projects. This decision is in keeping with City of Newcastle\u2019s own long held plans and aligns with NSW … Continue reading “City\u2019s westward move delivers new era of modern service”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |