Increased construction costs and a higher standard of earthquake proofing has driven up the cost of Whangarei's Hundertwasser Art Centre by $4.7 million, bringing the total cost of the project to $20.9m.
Revised costings released by Prosper Northland Trust (PNT) today, show an additional $3.6m in engineering costs for seismic strengthening, as well as $1.1m in increased construction costs.
PNT chairman Barry Trass said although the Whangarei District Council (WDC), which owns the Town Basin land where the centre will be built, had done engineering reports on the site, PNT wanted to future-proof the public building with structural improvements.
As part of its due diligence process, PNT commissioned engineers to conduct soil testing onsite last September and had engineers review the findings.
The impact of the Kaikoura earthquake on Wellington further boosted the trust's motivation to ensure the Whangarei building could withstand seismic activity, in the rare chance that it could occur.