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Wandella Community Hall Rebuild Project

Rebuilding Wandella Community Hall destroyed during the 2019-20 fires.

Wandella Hall design

Project Summary/background

For generations, the Wandella Community Hall has been a much loved and used community asset for the community of Wandella and its surrounding areas.

Bega Valley Shire Council is working with the Wandella community to rebuild its much-loved hall. This project is being managed in parallel with the rebuild project for Kiah Community Hall in the south of the shire which was also destroyed during Black Summer bushfires.

In November 2020, the NSW Government announced a share of $3 million in funding towards rebuilding and restoring the both the Wandella and Kiah halls. In April 2021, Council received formal notice of Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Funding of $1.821 million (combined) for both the Wandella and Kiah projects.

A series of public community consultation sessions were held from November 2020 through to January 2021 as part of the planning stage for the Wandella Community Hall rebuild. All community members and stakeholders were invited to contribute to the development of the design brief for the rebuild to ensure the new facility meets the community’s needs now and into the future.

The community consultation sessions were facilitated by Council and independent Architect Tim Lee who provided his services for the community consultation sessions at no-cost (pro-bono).

The input from these community consultation sessions provided the ingredients to create a site-specific project design brief for the new hall. During the consultation, it was widely recognised by the community that the preferred approach would be to invite a shortlisted group of architectural firms to develop and present initial concept designs in line with the design brief, which would then be presented to the community and Council for feedback. This approach meets the requirements of the funding agreement to ensure the project is carried out by appropriately skilled, qualified and experienced professionals, and fits within the project budget. By using qualified architects, the project can achieve an outcome that meets current and future needs.

In January 2022, the following architectural firms were shortlisted (in alphabetical order) to provide a concept design for both the Kiah and Wandella halls:

  • COMPLETE Urban Pty Ltd
  • Facility Design Group
  • Three Stone Design

During February and March 2022, the initial design concepts were presented to the community through community meetings and an online ‘Have Your Say’ process. As a result of the engagement and consultation evaluation process, architectural firm, Facility Design Group were engaged to deliver the final designs for the two hall projects.

VIEW WANDELLA HALL DESIGN DOCUMENT

Construction tendering for this project is now complete and the prefered tenderer will be engaged by the end of 2022, with practical completion of project construction by late November 2024.

Council thanks all community members and stakeholders who took part in the public community consultation sessions between 2020 and 2021—the attendance and enthusiasm to work with Council on delivery of this important project has brought immeasurable value to the project.

Purpose

The key aim of the project is for Council to partner with the local community to rebuild a fit for purpose community hall which will meet the community needs now and into the future:

The hall should:

  • pay homage to the past but also look to the future
  • be a focal point of community life
  • be a flexible and multipurpose space
  • be environmentally sustainable
  • be accessible for all members of the community
  • be resilient to the impacts of any future natural disaster
  • have low ongoing operational and maintenance costs.

Funding

The funding for this project was made possible through the NSW Government’s, Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) Fund.

Bega Valley Shire Council is also contributing to the overall budget.

Connection to Council's Community Strategic Plan

This project links to Council's Community Strategic Plan through:

  • Outcome 4: Liveable places
  • Goal 8: Our places retain their character and scale, development is well planned, and a range of goods and services are available within our shire that meet local needs.                      
  • Strategy 18: Consistently engage and consult across the whole community to ensure a diversity of voices are heard and that feedback is captured and considered for decision making and advocacy purposes.

Who can I speak to:

Gemma Gill
Manager, Infrastructure and Services
Bega Valley Shire Council
Phone: (02) 6499 2222
Email: ggill@begavalley.nsw.gov.au

Mark Baker
Project Manager, Infrastructure and Services
Bega Valley Shire Council
Phone: (02) 6499 2222
Email: mbaker@begavalley.nsw.gov.au

 

Timeline of works

 

Frequently Asked Questions

[FAQ]

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