Subj : Wellington Town Hall redevelopment voted to continue
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Thu Oct 26 2023 02:07 pm

Wellington City councillors have voted for the Town Hall redevelopment
project to continue to completion despite a massive price tag.


In a council meeting on Wednesday, a majority of councillors considered four
options on the building's future.


To continue will cost $252 to $329 million, while closing down or demolishing
would cost between $204 and $243m.


Mayor Tory Whanau told councillors she was not happy to support the spend to
complete the project but future generations of Wellingtonians will thank the
council for making the hard call now.


The final vote passed with 13 councillors voting yes and three voting no.


A grade one listed heritage building, the 120-year-old Town Hall has been
closed since 2013, after being deemed earthquake-prone in 2009.


Costs for quake-strengthening and refurbishment ballooned from an initial
estimated $32m to $145m, when work started in 2019. In May 2022, council
announced that construction costs, made worse by the pandemic, would hike the
budget by another $37m.


Completion was projected to cost just over $264m, or $81.8m more than
currently budgeted, council chief operating officer James Roberts said
earlier in October.


rnz.co.nz

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