Zauner Construction will build the new Wodonga library gallery after winning the tender at the December council meeting.
Councillors unanimously passed the recommendation to award Zauner Construction the tender for the contract sum of $10,353,700 with a completion date of June, 30, 2021.
At Monday night's meeting, Cr John Watson said it was exciting to have a new library and gallery constructed in the community.
“I am very happy to put this forward,” he said.
Cr Brian Mitchell agreed and added it was great to see a local contractor awarded.
“The most important thing in my mind, reading through this recommendation, is that we are going to award it to a local contractor who will in turn employ other local contractors and it’s a great thing for the city,” he said.
Cr Libby Hall also gave her support to the recommendation.
“The tenderer does have a good construction history in our region and they are local and so with this I will support the officers’ recommendation and look forward to the final outcome,” she said.
Cr Ron Mildren said the project was ‘absolutely wonderful’.
“The library project, from the start, has been something that has been planned to be done and is necessary to continue to build the concept for the city centre that has been in place for a good number of years,” he said.
Cr Kat Bennett pointed out in the agenda that there were some great building design elements, including the use of recycled red bricks.
“Everyone will know the recycled red bricks down at Junction, so bringing that design element down here will really mean that space is much more consistent and draw people to and from,” she said.
Cr Bennett also mentioned the reduced energy, LED lighting, solar panels and pointed out there is a reduced building footprint – ‘instead of going out, we are actually going up’.
Mayor Cr Anna Speedie called the project intergenerational.
“You only get to build these things once every 30 to 40 years,” she said.
“Our library is one of the busiest regional libraries in Victoria – we have 145,000 visits, that’s absolutely outstanding.
“It’s outstanding because it means that our community loves the space but they also want to be there and use it.
“In addition, we have another 30,000 to 40,000 people going through Arts Space, so it’s a much-loved facility.
“Future proofing it, by building it the right size and making sure we absolutely have it right, is important.”
The submission from Zauner Construction was considered to be of very high quality and their methodology contained quite specific details about the construction processes proposed and finishing details including details in relation to the entrance stairs and skylight atrium that are a feature of this building.
Zauner Construction listed a number of specific relevant projects including The Cube in Wodonga and MAMA, the Albury Regional Art Gallery.
The company has also completed a number of other projects for council including Waves.