Page 3207 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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ASSEMBLY PREMISES - REFURBISHMENT OF SOUTH BUILDING
Ministerial Statement
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services): Madam Speaker, I seek leave of the Assembly to make a ministerial statement on the refurbishment of the South Building offices for Assembly accommodation.
Leave granted.
MR CONNOLLY: Thank you. Madam Speaker, my purpose in speaking today is to advise the Assembly of progress on the redesign and refurbishment of South Building as the new Assembly premises.
On 8 September the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedures tabled its report on the provision of new Assembly premises. The committee recommended that the redesign and refurbishment of South Building proceed, and that a Speaker's Committee comprising members of the Administration and Procedures Committee be formed to liaise with the Minister responsible for carriage of the project. The committee's report was endorsed by the Assembly on 10 September and the Government has put in place the necessary process to implement the project.
The Government has nominated me, as Urban Services Minister, to take responsibility for the process. Accordingly, I have arranged that appropriate officers from my department take the necessary steps to commence the project. The Government has agreed that a budget of $12.7m be provided, as recommended in the pre-design report. The Government has provided $3.2m for the project in 1992-93 and the balance of funds will be provided in 1993-94. Madam Speaker, I have been advised that you have convened a steering committee and that the principal elements of the project delivery process are now agreed. The target for completion of the project is the first day of the 1994 Assembly sitting schedule.
The project will be delivered using the expertise of a private sector architect and a private sector project manager. The design and construction will be coordinated by a project control group which will ensure that the Speaker's Committee and those who will occupy the building are adequately consulted, and will ensure that budget and project schedules are adhered to. The major client occupier groups have been identified as the Assembly members, the Speaker, the Executive, the Leader of the Opposition, the Assembly Secretariat, the joint Assembly/ACT Government Service Library, staff of Assembly members and the Press Gallery. Consultations with those groups have commenced to determine in detail their accommodation requirements.
The architect for the project has been selected and has been engaged. The successful firm is Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp, and Mr Hal Guida will be the lead partner for this project. Members will be aware that it was this firm that so successfully undertook the design of the new Commonwealth Parliament House. The firm established a local office in Canberra 11 years ago and is now fully recognised as a locally based architectural practice, undertaking a wide variety of work throughout Australia. While the firm of Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp is best known for the design of Parliament House, I should emphasise that this firm pursues a deliberate policy of undertaking a broad range of architectural projects.
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