City council under pump as big projects seek green light to proceed

Thursday, 24 October 2019

Invercargill City Council chief executive Clare Hadley.

The heat is on the Invercargill City Council as three major projects in the city, including the CBD upgrade, seek the green light to proceed with their work.

The CBD development is waiting on management plans to be processed before it can begin demolition of an entire central city block, the ILT needs a building consent before it can begin building its new hotel, and stores in the Kmart building require consents before they can be fitted out.

City council chief executive Clare Hadley says its building consents team is under pressure due to staffing shortages and busy development around the city, including the three big projects.

Hadley says the council's building consents team, which includes contract workers in Christchurch, is trying its best, but it's a two-way street and applicants also need to get requested information back to the consent officers in a timely manner.

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'We are leaving no stone unturned in an effort to engage more resources … but there's a nationwide shortage of experienced building consents officers,' Hadley says.

The CBD development was issued a resource consent, with conditions, about five months ago.

Those conditions require the applicant to provide management plans which have to be certified by the council before demolition of the CBD block can begin.

Four plans have been submitted, with one signed off, and the other three are being processed.

'We are working together to get them going as quickly as possible, but we need some management plans [processed],' Hadley said.

HWCP management director Scott O'Donnell, the man behind the CBD upgrade, declined to comment.

O'Donnell had hoped to begin demolition late this month but that deadline has nearly passed.

Kmart has previously signalled it wants to open its Invercargill store in November.

Building consent work for the Kmart building has been issued - but Hadley said the developer chose to make the tenants of the eight other retail outlets in the building responsible for their own consents.

'That means there's a variation of time frames because some applied much later than others.'

Five of the eight retail shops around the Kmart store still needed to send information to the council before consents could be issued and the fitouts could begin, Hadley said.

'All parties are working hard to get through the consent process and do the building work so they can open the same day as Kmart.'

Of the ILT hotel build, Hadley said the ILT was requesting consent for concrete slabs and the council was waiting on more information from the organisation.

'If the request for information is returned promptly I would expect building consent to be issued a week after that.'

ILT general manager Chris Ramsay said he expected the information to be sent to the council in two to three weeks, meaning consent may be granted within a month.

'After we get consent we will be mobilising immediately.'