29 November
Masterton District Council has engaged specialist project management company Xigo to oversee its $15.5 million civic centre project.
Xigo is a national project management consultancy with offices in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga. It has managed high-profile projects such as construction of the Meridian Building on Wellington’s waterfront, Wellington’s largest office building, the Asterton Centre and a significant refurbishment and upgrade of the SKYCITY Grand Hotel in Auckland.
The project will be led by Andy Mallard, who has more than 40 years’ experience in the New Zealand construction industry. His experience includes the construction of the Westpac Stadium, Hutt City’s Expressions performing arts centre, Porirua’s city revitalisation and Wellington’s Town Hall seismic strengthening.
Masterton District Council Chief Executive Kath Ross said engaging experienced project management capability was a crucial step to ensuring success of the civic centre project.
“With $15.5 million of ratepayer funds at stake, it’s imperative that we have the right people managing this project,” Ms Ross said.
“We went out to market for project management services and were impressed with Xigo. I am confident having Xigo and Andy on the job will ensure a good outcome.”
Project Manager Andy Mallard will be supported by Andy Norris and Jarrhyd Smith.
“Our team brings national experience as well as an appreciation of the Masterton district with Jarrhyd hailing from Masterton,” Mr Mallard said.
“We’re excited to be involved in a project which is arguably one of the most important projects to be undertaken in Masterton in current times.”
The civic centre project was a core commitment in Masterton District Council’s 2018-28 Long-Term Plan.
Council has also engaged Horwath HTL to carry out a market demand and feasibility study for the civic centre project. This work will include understanding the use of the former town hall and analysing the likely future use of the civic centre development.
“We need to finetune the details of the development; this research will help us understand what elements should be included, what’s likely to get used and how we might integrate commercial and non-commercial operations,” Ms Ross said.