The Spring St parking building, at the intersection with Durham St in Tauranga’s CBD. Photo / Alex Cairns
“Unforeseen design complexities” at a CBD carpark building have cost more than $1 million in extra, unbudgeted ratepayer money – just weeks after the council approved $3.4m to finish another civic project that had hit surprise issues.
At a Tauranga City Council meeting on Monday, commissioners approved an extra $1.06m for the Spring St parking building seismic strengthening project.
It took the total project cost to $6.86m.
In a report presented at the meeting, civic redevelopment projects senior programme manager Mark Ross said “unforeseen design complexities” led to “significant redesign and [a] more complex strengthening programme”.
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In November 2020, consultants were commissioned to do a detailed seismic assessment of the building, rating it at 25 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS). This meant the building was considered earthquake-prone and required work. A detailed design that would bring the NBS rating to 67 per cent was done in 2021, and construction began in July last year.
The approved budget for the whole project – including consultancy fees – was $5.79m.
At Monday’s meeting, council general manager of infrastructure Nic Johansson said the project had a “robust design” and “we went into it with a high level of confidence”.
Once work started, however, elements such as reinforced steel were not where…
