Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders could not say what the final cost of the building would be.
Initially estimated as a $54.5m development, the new council headquarters building in Maclaggan St, in Dunedin’s city centre, faced a "disappointing" delay at the outset requiring a redesign, and then the project ran into skyrocketing construction costs.
At the start, despite geotechnical studies, the project team hit "some soft ground" that required a structural redesign and a "substantive amount of additional structural steel", Mr Winders said.
The issue had pushed back the timeline from an initial Christmas completion date this year to the third quarter of next year, Mr Winders said.
"We’re late," he said.
"You can do all the geotech you like, and sometimes you get unlucky and you strike some ground that wasn’t tested.
"Unfortunately, that’s one of those issues with building.
"Delay is always time and money.
"Clearly, the longer you’re on site and the longer you’re paying your builders and all your trades to be there, that adds to cost," he said.
He said the increase in construction costs had probably been the biggest factor to rising costs, as the price of steel and other building materials was higher than in the original plan.
"And that’s just something you’ve got to work through and manage ... we’re doing that."
Since the initial delay, though, the project had been tracking well.
At present, windows were going in, the cladding was going on the outside and the building would be closed up by Christmas so that work could get going inside the building, he said.
Meanwhile, council chief executive Richard Saunders said he was not concerned about the delay.
The date for the council’s fit-out, and the date for the council to move into its new headquarters had not yet been determined, Mr Saunders said.
However, the council’s budgeted cost to fit the building out — $11.2m — had not changed.
"We are very comfortable with the progress being made by Port Otago and thank all of the people involved with the construction project," Mr Saunders said.
"We are looking forward to relocating our Dunedin staff to the new building in the future and in the meantime are continuing to focus on delivering a great service for our community."
The council is at present largely housed in a Stafford St building and Philip Laing House, in Rattray St.
The agreement with Port Otago is for a 40-year lease of the new building, initially for 20-years and then two 10-year right-of-renewals.
The construction project has had its critics from the get-go, including Central Otago councillors Michael Laws and Gary Kelliher.
Cr Kelliher said councillors had yet to receive a detailed briefing on the cost over-runs.
"I think it’s very optimistic to think that building will be completed on the extended time and within budget," he said.
"Given the ratepayers are going to suffer the cost of the building every year starting at more than $2m annual lease, then they will likely be expected to fund the over-runs one way or another.
"It’s a complete vanity project to house the ever-increasing staff numbers that the majority of councillors seem to want to expand even further."
Cr Laws said not expecting a budget blowout was akin to living in a "fantasy world".
"This whole project would best be described as an outstanding example of a council that doesn’t give a rat’s razoo about the Otago ratepayer.
"It is not simply wrong, it’s an abomination.
"A myriad of more practical and cheaper options existed but, no, this vanity projects stumbles on like a putrefying zombie."
