Consultants for Town Hall cost more than project's starting price
Saturday, 8 March 2025
Consultant advice for the troubled Town Hall revamp has cost Wellington City Council $22 million over the past four years ‒ $2m more than was forecast for entire project back in 2012.
The restoration project budget blew out to $329m in 2023, but the council announced on Wednesday between $15m and 17.5m of savings had been found and the facility would open eight months earlier than planned.
The consultant costs were released this week under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, along with consultant costs for other projects in Te Ngākau Civic Precinct.
Over the same time period, consultants cost the council $17m for the Te Matapihi library, $3.3m for civic square ‒ which included building demolition costs and the Civic basement strengthening ‒ and $149,060 for the City to Sea bridge, which could be pulled down.
A consultant is defined as any person or organisation that has provided advice to the project. Some consultants provided both advice and service and the council’s figures included the full amount as it was difficult to separate out.
Services included architects, engineers, seismic and geotechnical assessment, climate change and flood assessment, surveyors, archaeologists, accessibility specialist, legal services, commissioning services, building service specialists, Māori Advisory Consultancy, co-design, resource consent, and peer reviews.
The council plans to use the savings found in the Town Hall this week to offset some of the $46.5 million of debt the council took on in February’s long-term plan by saving Begonia House, fencing the waterfront and giving Wellington Water more money.
In 2023, an extra $147m was needed to for the Town Hall project to bring it up to the heritage-listed code ‒ making the building the price of almost two Tākina Convention Centres.
At the time, Diane Calvert called for a breakdown of costs through an independent review, but this was voted down following chief executive advice.
“As governors, we have a job to provide assurance … this was an opportunity to look at what we could have done differently.”
Ben McNulty, who has been vocal about the cost-blow out of the Town Hall since 2023, said the consultant costs showed how the project was “an abhorrent waste of money”.
“The Town Hall represents the ultimate white elephant, and its ongoing operation, once open, will continue to be a drain on the ratepayer.”
McNulty believed the cost blowout had generated “a bit of a culture change” around whether strengthening work was the best use of council funds.
How the council votes on the fate of the Michael Fowler Centre will a testament to this, with the council considering demolition.
Councillor Nicola Young said if the council had not strengthened the building, it could have been taken to the Environment Court.
“We can’t save everything and this is a lesson to that, but we have saved the Town Hall and it will be an amazing asset.”
Tim Brown said $22m relative to complexity and scale of the project was “reasonable”. Calvert agreed, saying it was about 6%, which “sounds right”.