Whangārei RSA demolished in September for new civic centre

Whangārei's RSA building will be demolished in September so work can start on the city's planned $48 million civic centre.

Whangārei's 70-year-old-plus RSA buildings will be demolished in September to make way for the city's controversial new $48 million civic centre.

"It's the end of one era and the beginning of another," Kevin Peachey, Whangārei RSA president, said.

The demolition is expected to take a month before the Whangārei District Council's new civic centre build starts in mid-October. The Civic Centre's initial preliminary design work is almost complete.

The RSA is holding a special farewell ceremony on Saturday August 1 to mark its last day at the site before heading to a new Hannah St home the following day.

"A new chapter's beginning in the history of Whangārei," Peachey said of the RSA move.

Alan Adcock, Whangārei District Council general manager corporate, said the new civic centre on the RSA site would provide a one-stop shop for the people of the district to access its services.

It was still going ahead, in spite of Covid-19 budget challenges and more council staff working from home during virus management movement restrictions.

The building offered future-proofing for the council. This need hadn't gone away because of Covid-19.

WDC will hold a neighbourhood meeting at Forum North on August 3 to outline the project and its potential local demolition and construction effects.

Adcock said there would likely be ground vibration and construction noise for surrounding neighbours during the demolition and building phase.

Those potentially affected by this were within about a kilometre of the building site. They included residents in the adjacent First, Second and Third Avenues. Whangārei Intermediate and the University of Auckland Tai Tokerau campus were also in this area.

Others included businesses, workers, shoppers and those visiting Whangārei central library or using Forum North. There would also be potential traffic disturbance in Rust Ave at times.

Construction is expected to take almost two years with completion in April 2022, the centre opening in July of that year.

Adcock said demolition and construction work would be limited to Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

Meanwhile $6.27m of civic centre build contracts have been let including for archaeology, civil engineering, structural engineering, project management, surveying and health and safety.

These include almost $2m for Auckland-based Avery Architects who are designing the building and $1.338m for Auckland-based The Building Intelligence Group to project manage the build.

Whangārei-based Cuesko is the biggest locally-based contractor spend with a $443,380 quantity surveying for the build.

Boundary fencing around the RSA building site will start being put up on August 11.
Lovers Lane – between Whangārei central library and the RSA site - will be shut for two weeks while the fence is erected.

The next stage will be three months of detailed design and consenting beginning at the end of July. An artist's impression of the building is expected to be available at that point.

Local apprentices and trainees will make up a minimum of 10 per cent of the build workforce. This means one apprentice or trainee for every 10 workers on site.

Wayne Jackson, NorthTec acting chief executive, said this would strengthen pathways into employment and develop a strong local skill base in Northland and build collaboration between local trades and the organisation's central Whangārei Tai Tokerau Skills Centre Plus - Te Rua o Pūkenga.