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April 2023 Issue 22
News and views for North Sydney’s residential and business communities
www.northsydneysun.com.au
Mystery continues over North Sydney Olympic Pool’s 500 day re-opening delay By Grahame Lynch An independent report into costly delays impacting the refurbishment of North Sydney Olympic Pool has raised more questions than answers, with mystery surrounding what accounts for nearly all of a 500 day delay in its predicted completion date. The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers was commissioned last November and was shared with councillors the following month. However, report findings have only been partially revealed this month so that councillors can act on some of its budgetary implications at their next meeting. The pool refurbishment commenced in March 2021 and was scheduled to be completed in November last year. But according to a version of the findings of the report tabled by council officers, PWC now believes the pool cannot be completed before April 2024. The council’s own website was still forecasting a reopening in August this year, as we went to press. The full reasons for what would be a 500 day delay have not been quantified in what has been revealed of the PWC study. The council report says: “To date the project has experienced
22 days in delay due to Covid, 88 due to wet weather, and 38 days due to the removal of hazardous material.” This does not explain what is behind the remaining 350 or so days of anticipated delay. The only explanation is hinted at by the following observation: “The external environment at the time of contract execution was one experiencing an unprecedented pandemic and a multi-year La Nina weather event. These external factors were not factored into contingency planning nor was the risk shared through contract negotiations.” “The detailed independent review has been obtained under legal privilege and for commercial and contractual reasons remains confidential,” the report by council officers to councillors says. At this stage, the pool’s costs have blown out by around $7.7m, on top of a $64m approved budget. The extra costs are mainly accounted for by variations to the contract as well as design and consultancy. But as of April, there are currently an astonishing 93 pending variations to be considered, including 22 delay related claims and 19 early works/
An arƟst’s impression of the new pool latent conditions claims. “Council is currently working through an assessment and resolution process to address these claims. Council has engaged a quantity surveyor to assess these claims in accordance with contract entitlements,” the report says. Ultimately, the PWC report forecasts that costs may rise by $25 million or more over what was originally budgeted. Nearly half of the current $64 million budget for the pool comes from $31 million of loans. $10 million
comes from the federal government and $5 million from state government. The remainder and any cost overrun will be funded bySanter the annual counGodfrey cil budget. A draft budget across North Sydney Council that has also been released ahead of the late April meeting of councillors allocates $43.5 million for the pool budget and completion. $11.8 million worth of capital works have been deferred to later
Felicity resists the tide with North Shore victory
Tim James re-elected with 52.6% of 2PP vote
State North Shore member Felicity Wilson scored a surprisingly strong re -election in the March 25 election, with her primary vote of 44.23% holding up well compared to her 46.60% primary vote at the previous 2019 election. The 2.4% primary swing against Wilson compared well with a 5.2% fall in Liberal Party primary votes across the state which saw the party lose office to Labor. The result also indicated a strong personal vote for Wilson. The North Shore vote for the Liberal Coalition for the upper house was just 37.3%, considerably less than the lower house primary vote. Wilson’s main challenger Helen Conway was, however, partially successful in convincing Labor and Greens voters to preference her second. Conway parlayed a primary vote ConƟnued page 3
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Sitting Liberal member Tim James was re-elected to represent Willoughby with 43.6% of the primary vote and 52.61% of the 2PP vote at the March 25 state election. Independent Larissa Penn got 26.62% of the primary vote, and a strong preference flow from the Greens and Labor, took her to over 47% of the 2PP vote. Penn won just two booths—Cammeray Public and Naremburn Community Centre—on primary votes, with James topping the count in the other 25 booths.