The organisers of a major rebuild of the Brunswick Heads Surf Life Saving Club say delays have resulted in building costs outstripping the project’s budget.
Key points:
- Brunswick Heads SLSC received funding for a new $4.4 million clubhouse in 2019
- Approval delays have led to a blowout in the costs of building materials that the club can’t afford
- The club says it’s an issue that other surf life saving clubs could face as they look to renovate
The club received $4.4 million in community donations, government grants in 2019, and had designs and a builder ready to proceed.
However, administrative processes had brought the project to a halt.
“There were a few hiccups with [Byron Shire] council [approvals] but we met all of council’s requirements,” said rebuilding committee chair Ray Linabury.
“For the last six months we have been awaiting a lease from Crown Lands.”
Mr Linabury said building costs had blown out in that time.
“So on a $4.4 million job, that’s $440,000. By the end of this year, conservatively, it will be 15 per cent.
“That’s money we don’t have.”
Matt Saunderson, a quantity surveyor from Lennox Head who assesses the cost of major building contracts, said he was not surprised by the club’s problem.
Mr Saunderson said the rising cost of building materials had been “horrendous”.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen in my 25-year career as a quantity surveyor,” he said.
Looming problem for other SLSCs
Mr Linabury said the delay with the club’s Crown lands lease was because of the precedent it would set for other ageing surf clubs.
The existing Brunswick Heads club building is more than 50 years old and Mr Linabury said the club desperately needed a larger building to house all its equipment and provide better services.
“To get a bigger footprint we need to expand onto land we don’t have a lease over at the moment.”
Mr Linabury said many other NSW surf life saving clubs were in a similar situation.
“We are apparently the first club that Crown Lands needs to produce a lease for. But there will be many more in the future,” he said.
“The lease they presented to us basically has to be applicable to almost every other club up and down the coast of New South Wales.”
In the meantime, Mr Linabury said the Brunswick Heads SLSC would look for ways to fill the gap between its available funding and building costs.
“We will try the state government again, although I’m not sure I like the chances there,” he said.
“But it would be fantastic if somebody recognised the fact that this hold-up is not of our making and could come up with the extra funding we’ll need.”
