Updated programming means there is now a clear picture of the rest of the City Streets project timeline.
Invercargill City Council has been upgrading the inner-city streets to create attractive streetscape connections between the Invercargill Central development, HWR Tower and Langlands Hotel developments.
Invercargill City Council Group Manager Finance and Assurance Michael Day said updated programming meant there was now a clear picture of the rest of the project.
“It’s been an incredibly complex operation with many moving parts. We are all pleased that we have managed the scale of transformation while so many things were thrown at us,” he said.
The project has worked through a number of challenges including illness, the intricacies that arise from working alongside other active developments, infrastructure work, delays, unexpected soil contamination and archaeological discoveries, he said.
“These challenges have resulted in delays and a need for rescheduling of the work programme,” Day said.
“Through the incredibly hard work from all of the teams involved we remain impressed with the revised timeline given the scale of the work and complications that were presented.”
Completion for Esk Street is now planned for March 2023 and Don Street is February 2023.
“We’ve been prioritising having streetscape areas available to coincide with what is needed by our friends at Invercargill Central and The Langlands,” he said.
“What the project will look like when completed is now starting to emerge and it shows the exciting opportunities for our future in the city centre.”
City Centre Governance Group Chairman and H&J Smith chief executive John Green said while it would have been good to have the project wrapped up pre-Christmas, the impacts of delays would be minimal. “I’ve been very impressed with the way that the city centre businesses and contractors on all of the projects have collaborated to reduce the impact on business and the public,” he said.
“The community has shown remarkable continued support for businesses throughout the project.”
