Covid may add $9.7m to hall bill

Officials are warning that work to restrengthen Wellington’s heritage-listed town hall could increase by about $9.7 million, new documents show.

An agenda for a Wellington City Council committee said the town hall works are progressing towards completion for December 2023.

While on budget at the moment, the project would be ‘‘under pressure from a resourcing and cost escalation perspective as the construction market works through supply chain issues from Covid19’’, it said.

Through to the project’s sign off, there may be an overspend of between 2.1 and 8.7 per cent. The latter would take the project’s total cost up to $122.1m.

In February 2019, city councillors voted to approve a further $20m for the building’s restoration.

That brought the budget up to $112.4m, not including a ‘‘contingency allowance’’, which had also been approved by the council. Back in 2013, the budget was just $43m.

Wellington property developer Ian Cassels said while it was ‘‘too late to stop the ship’’, it was understandable costs had increased with the pandemic.

‘‘People either love it or they don’t. Ratepayers seem quite happy to pay for these public projects,’’ he said.

The paper said the main risks for the town hall – which is being strengthened, restored and will become the home of the National Centre for Music – were the scale and complexity of the project.

‘‘We are seeing the impacts of

Covid-19 feed through into the supply chain and in particular in areas of scaffolding and nonindented steel,’’ wrote Danny McComb, a programme director with the council.

‘‘The Wellington construction market is extremely stretched and this is being seen in the availability of consultants and subcontractors and is feeding through into escalation of material and labour costs.’’

Piling work was now mostly complete in areas on the town hall outside the auditorium. Auditorium piling work would start next year.