Manawatū District Council has named Alexander Construction as lead contractor for the Manawatū Community Hub, which will see Feilding library transformed into a $12.5million multi-use community hub.
Alexander Construction has previously worked with the Council to deliver the new Manawatū Resource Recovery Centre on Kawakawa Road.
Mayor Helen Worboys says that having an established positive relationship with Alexander Construction was beneficial.
“We’re extremely pleased to have Alexander Construction on board with this project. They did a fantastic job of the Resource Recovery Centre and we believe that they will do an equally good job of this community hub,” she said.
The previous library was used for many different purposes including school holiday and afterschool programmes, workshops, events and meetings. Referring to it now as a community hub was more reflective of what the space could be used for within the wider Manawatū community, the Mayor said.
“We have the best little library in New Zealand and the levels of service that our staff achieved given the limitations of the building has been quite outstanding. They do more than just books and resources and once the new building is in place, we want to this be somewhere that our residents can congregate and connect with each other, hence it becoming a community hub, and this will benefit all residents, not just those in Feilding.”
The new community hub will see the current building earthquake strengthened and an extension to the build which will increase the overall footprint of the space to almost double its current size. A new roof will also be installed.
The overall budget of the project has increased from initial estimates in the Manawatūmeke 10 Year Plan, due in part to delays and supply chain issues caused by COVID-19, the Council said.
It will be applying to the Government’s Three Waters Better Off Fund for $3.76 million, which will offset some of the extra costs given the delays.
Council has also received $150,000 from New Zealand Community Trust, $400,000 from Central Energy Trust and another $400,000 from the New Zealand Lotteries Community Facilities Fund toward the project. There are also further third party funding applications in progress, it confirmed.
The development of the community hub will start this month and is due to be completed by mid-2024.
