Mildura Riverfront: will locals get a piece of the action?

TWO independent planning experts have questioned the consultancy fees paid for the first stage of the Mildura Riverfront project.

As the community consultation for stage 2 of the riverfront redevelopment kicked off this week, Sunraysia Daily obtained a document that listed the 26 consultants used in stage 1 and how much they were paid.

Mildura Rural City Council, which is managing the project, contributed $2.5 million towards the total stage 1 cost of $19.3 million, with the State Government forking out the lion’s share of $16.8 million.

The council document shows that just over $4 million was spent on consultancy fees, with the top earners – the project manager and landscape architect – both pocketing about $1 million.

A civil and structural engineer collected $692,752, while nearly $250,000 was paid to content, branding and marketing consultants.

The two local building industry experts, who spoke with the Daily on the condition of anonymity, gave a damning assessment of how much the council paid to most of the consultants.

“They paid over the odds for a lot of this work,” one of the experts said.

“Most of the major jobs could have been done for nearly half the cost. We have well-qualified people here to do these jobs, and at better rates than what the out-of-towners charge.”

Just before deadline late Friday, the council sent through a breakdown of local versus out-of-town consultants.

Only seven of the 26 consultants were locals on stage 1 of the project.

In an interview last week, the council’s general manager of community, Martin Hawson, did concede “some” external consultants were used on the project, including a landscape architect.

“(But) the major contractor (King Construction Group) was local,” he said.

“There probably are, I guess, some (local) landscape architects. But when you are talking about a $20 million build, they need to be able to feel they’ve got the capacity to do that.

“For the (rowing club) cafe, which is more your normal, run-of-the-mill requirements, we did use local consultants because it is a building.

“It’s not like we deliberately use internal or external … it’s determined by their capacity to do the work.”

The document that arrived late yesterday confirmed the out-of-town consultants used in stage 1 included a signage and interpretive panel designer, hospitality consultant, carpark safety audit, quantity surveyor, rail engineer, building architect, cultural heritage management consultant, content development, branding and marketing, planning consultant, youth integration specialist, lighting designer, place management consultant, landscape architect, and a flood impact assessment consultant.

One of the local experts said Mr Hawson’s questioning of the local contractors’ capabilities to work on major projects was “an insult”.

“Does he not realise we have major projects in the private sector already happening here, with local experts across all areas of strategic planning and the building trade?” the expert said.

“Council could save a fortune if they were smarter in how they run these projects.”

Mr Hawson said there were “zero” staff in the council’s planning department capable of working on major projects.

“Staff do statutory planning,” he said. “They process statutory plans, which is not anything to do with this (riverfront) project.

“A town planner wouldn’t design this project. There are qualified staff (at council), but they are doing town planning work.

“When you apply for a planning permit, you’d put in an application and the town planners are processing the permits.

“They are the statutory authority.”

He said there were “unique” aspects of the stage 1 riverfront project that required out-of-town experts, such as a rail engineer.

“Putting in a railway crossing is one of the most complicated things you can do … so we needed to have the specific rail engineer to design that piece of work,” Mr Hawson said.

“We don’t do that, so we needed a sub-consultant for that.

“The elements of this project were diverse. We were building a water park, together with building a cafe, together with a railway crossing, and the drainage that had to accommodate all that.

“On top of that, we were building a footpath on Crown land that requires a heap of different approvals.

“The complexity of all those things meant it was unique.”

He later confirmed that the project manager for the $30 million stage 2 of the riverfront development, due to begin mid-next year, was a national company, NS Projects.

The $6 million early works for stage 2 will focus on transforming the Powerhouse building, which has been slated for heritage works, adjacent carpark and immediate surrounding area into a vibrant cultural, community and commercial hub.

“(The appointment of NS Projects) was based on the fact they had the skills (to run the project),” Mr Hawson said.

“A lot of that is because of adaptive reuse, where you’re working with an existing building (the Powerhouse) and they’ve had a lot of experience doing that sort of work.

“The project managers will run a process to appoint the sub-consultants, work through the design and land-use stuff, land approvals, landscape architecture and town-planning requirements.”

Asked whether there would be a drive to use as many local contractors as possible for stage 2, he said: “So again, they (NS Projects) run the process.

“Ideally, we’ll get local people applying for those tenders. If they apply for it and can do the work, they are in the running for it.”

Mr Hawson said the riverfront redevelopment was “a vital driver for our region’s economy”.

“Since completion of the first stage of the riverfront redevelopment there have been more than three million visitors to the precinct, and those numbers continue to increase,” he said.

Residents can help shape the next stage of the riverfront redevelopment by taking a quick survey. It is open until Friday, November 13, and can be accessed at mildura.vic.gov.au/HaveYourSay.