A robust business case was needed for the Cromwell Memorial Hall to justify spending $43 million, the Central Otago district’s deputy mayor says.

Neil Gillespie said there was still a lot of work to be done to get it across the line, including operating and depreciation costs, and council still needed to approve the tender for the rebuild. 

Four companies were shortlisted in that process and this was the single biggest capital project he had been involved in since his time in local government in 1998.

The Cromwell Community Board, at its November 28 meeting, decided it needed to understand the total cost of the project, what its operating model would look like and how it would be funded.

“It has taken awhile, but with numbers like that you have to get it right. There’s too much at stake to get it wrong.”

The estimated $43 million was an “eyewatering” amount of money, and the community board couldn’t just keeping saying yes to everything.

At its closed meeting on November 29 community board members questioned the long term picture of the $43 million hall.

Board chair Anna Harrison said this was a significant project "and we want to be sure that we fully understand the ongoing costs of operating the building and what the impact will be on rates. 

“The information that has been presented to us is really complex. We want to be sure that we get it right so that we end up with an asset our community can be proud of.”

The cost of maintenance and eventual replacement of the hall also needed to be carefully considered.

The old hall will be demolished to make way for the new facility, plans for which include a 400-seat auditorium, cafe, cinema, flexible community and meeting spaces and the Cromwell Museum, according to council documents.

Local aggregates will be used in the building and the design is intended to reflect the Central Otago landscape and its people.

Funds for the build have been set aside in the council’s long-term plan, apart from about $11 million to come from grants and land sales.

Construction is expected to take place this year once budgets are confirmed.