Green light for first stage of Sarjeant redevelopment construction
Published on 01 November 2019
Whanganui District Council agreed today to move forward on a tender by Palmerston North construction company, McMillan & Lockwood Ltd to construct the first stage of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui redevelopment project.
Sarjeant Gallery Redevelopment Project Director, Gaye Batty, said that on Friday 1 November, Council voted to award the $20 million contract to McMillan & Lockwood to construct the extension wing component of the redevelopment. This wing, to be named Te Pātaka o Sir Archie John Te Atawhai Taiaroa, will house new galleries, a retail shop, café, education facilities and a state-of-the-art storage space for the Gallery’s extensive art collection, now and into the future.
“I am delighted we have reached this milestone for the project which will be underway very soon. McMillan & Lockwood can be congratulated on having submitted a very competitive tender scoring well on their construction methodology and innovation and they met our requirement for the use of Whanganui subcontractors,” says Gaye Batty.
“This contract will be offered on a Fixed Price Lump Sum Basis with a construction contingency. As part of contract negotiations, McMillan & Lockwood have been working with the project design team on value engineering opportunities to reduce procurement costs on the new extension that will ensure the design achieves Whanganui District Council’s budget requirements.
“The second stage of construction, the upgrade of the 100 year old Sarjeant building, including seismic strengthening, is intended to be awarded at a later date as a variation to this contract. However, McMillan & Lockwood will be able to make a start on some specific packages of work inside the Sarjeant prior to construction of the extension.”
Gaye Batty says the first part of the tender process was a call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs), which was advertised to the open market. She says, “We had a healthy response to this, which was an excellent start, with six credible EOI’s received, which then went through a shortlisting process.”
Mayor Hamish McDouall says this was an exciting proposal for the new Council to consider. “There’s a great deal of excitement throughout the District for this project.
“After the astounding fundraising efforts, it will be so rewarding to the community, the donors and all the Sarjeant supporters to see the ongoing build,” says Mayor Hamish McDouall.
McMillan and Lockwood are a nationwide construction company based in Palmerston North. They have completed construction of over four hundred major projects in New Zealand including UCOL Whanganui and the refurbishment of Whanganui Hospital in 2008.