Tamworth council earmarks $4 million for asbestos removal from Ray Walsh House

Ray Walsh House was closed more than a year ago after the 50-year-old structure was deemed unfit for staff due to asbestos issues.

The closure saw hundreds of council staff deployed to work from six alternate locations including the customer service hub on 474 Peel Street and the old Northern Daily Leader building, costing ratepayers millions of dollars as the project went more than $285,000 over budget.

Council commissioned an investigation into its handling of the relocation, but has refused to release the investigation's findings to the public.

Now the remediation is set to cause more pain for ratepayers, with the first phase of the project costing an estimated $900,000 and the budget for total fixes earmarked at more than $4 million.

READ ALSO:

Tamworth Regional Council has hired Rice Construction Group, a Tamworth and Armidale-based company which specialises in large-scale properties, for the building's remediation and asbestos removal.

Council's Chief People Officer Marie Resch said the first phase of reconstruction will take 12 weeks and is not expected to impact foot traffic nor motor traffic in the CBD.

As for whether council staff will move back into Ray Walsh House once the asbestos is removed, council is keeping its options open.

"There's a number of options, and what Tamworth council will need to determine is the best value for money both for the community and in terms of providing a facility that will house all of council's administrative staff," Ms Resch said.

She said councillors will hold a workshop this month to decide on how to best proceed.

For now, Ms Resch said Rice Construction will be demolishing Ray Walsh House's internal walls to remove all class B asbestos from the premises.

"Rice was chosen because they were a conforming tender, presented best value for money, and also have a very good track record in terms of their safety and environmental impacts," Ms Resch said.

As the class B asbestos is being removed from the walls, the remediation's next phase will find out how much class A asbestos in the building's ceilings.

Ms Resch said this phase will occur in conjunction with the current phase, but she could not confirm a timeline for the project beyond the initial 12 weeks.

"Everybody's very relieved that we've got a successful complying tender because given the industry at the moment it's quite difficult. The councillors are keen to get it moving as quickly as possible," she said.

Editor's note: This story has been undated to confirm councillors will hold a workshop later this month to determine the future of Ray Walsh House, and how it will be used going forward. That decision will be made by councillors, not put out to community consultation.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: