Council carefully approves experienced contractor

The contract for the refurbishment of the AC Baths Indoor 25m Pool building was approved at the 9 July Council meeting with works expected to commence at the beginning of August.

The contract for the refurbishment of the AC Baths Indoor 25m Pool building was awarded to Watts & Hughes Ltd for $1.7million. Watts & Hughes Ltd successfully completed Whakatane District Council Aquatic Centre refurbishment project which had near identical requirements to the AC Baths project.

Council’s Strategic Projects Manager, Andrew Boden, says that the decision-making was based on a rigorous process. “After the contractors registered their interest, four were shortlisted to be invited to tender. Once tenders were received, each contractor was interviewed by a Taupō District Council staff tender panel.”

The contract was approved only after in-depth Council discussion requiring assurances that the tender process, contract, insurance and all the documentation was sound. The contract was subject to written confirmation of acceptable insurance indemnities and perusal of tender documents from Council’s solicitor.

Mayor Rick Cooper endorsed the careful approach taken by Council staff and requested that they work hard to ensure to cover off any issues. He said: “This Council wants the project to go really well. We will ask the hard questions to make sure that the work stacks up. We want to get the best outcome for this community.”

He noted: “I am saddened that we have to do this again because it is a further burden on our ratepayers, but we cannot close this iconic facility and, therefore, we have to fix it.”

The project is stage 1 of a $5.9m refurbishment, approved in the 2012-22 Long Term Plan to upgrade AC Baths in the next 18 months. The work inside the Indoor 25m Pool area will include repairing and replacing the exterior roofing, acoustic ceiling and wall panels, structural steel rods, windows, air ducts and electrical cables. The refurbishment work will address the condensation, ventilation and construction problems from the past.