Council awards arts and culture centre development contract

The Council has appointed Irving Smith Jack Architects Ltd to develop their concept plans for the Library & Exhibition Facility along with the refurbishment of the current Museum into an Archive, Storage and Research Facility.

The Council made the decision at its meeting on Wednesday 24 February 201o and follows extensive independent review of the three concept plans plus community feedback on the proposals.

Whakatane Mayor Colin Holmes says the decision is a culmination of a long process towards the development of a modern and acceptable arts and culture facilities for the district.

In September 2009 Council purchased the former Briscoes building for the purpose of developing it into the Whakatane Library & Exhibition Facility.
Prior to making this decision the Council went through a Registration of Interest process which resulted in three Architectural firms developing concept plans. The firms were

Irving Smith Jack Architects Ltd

Jazmax Ltd

Opus International

The three designs were presented to key stakeholders and neighbouring property owners and then displayed at various locations around the district to seek community feedback.

Mr Holmes said in addition to seeking community’s views of the concept plans, an independent evaluation of the concept plans was conducted by experts Mr Jim Geddes QSO who is the Director of the Eastern Southland Gallery and Mr Malcolm Walker NZIA who has been a member of independent judging panel for Architectural competitions. A quantity surveyor also confirmed that all designs could be achieved within the set budget for construction.

Thanking the people who took an interest and put forward their views Mayor Holmes said the intention of the consultation was not ‘a vote” the Council wanted feedback on advantages and disadvantages of the proposal and with this in mind the consultation was very successful.

“The community provided very valuable views which in most cases was thought through and this feedback will be taken into consideration when developing the detailed design. The comments from the public shows that there is no design that clearly stands out above the rest”.

Community Projects Manager Barbara Dempsey says the process from here is the development of a detailed brief to allow the Architects to develop the detailed plan.. This is a key component of the process, the arts and culture team will get this opportunity to ensure that the lay out of the building works from a practical point of view.

The arts and culture will work with the architect and use their expertises, and their knowledge of Customers requirements to inform the design. The feedback received through the consultation will also be factored into the design at this point.