Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 16, 2007 22:56:05 GMT 12
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/3929525a6160.html
Defence's new HQ 'already too small'
By HANK SCHOUTEN - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 16 January 2007
The cost of the new Defence headquarters in Wellington has almost doubled since the building contract was signed three years ago and it is already proving too small .
This is revealed in a Defence Ministry study of the building project.
The Defence Force, ministry and the Security Intelligence Service are scheduled to shift into the new 18,000-square-metre building on the corner of Aitken and Mulgrave streets within three months.
They are moving out of Defence House in Stout St, purpose-built as a defence headquarters in the 1940s.
But the new headquarters, supposedly designed to meet requirements for the next 20 or 30 years, is already too small. It is understood Defence is having to forgo space, to provide extra office accommodation for the SIS.
A just-released ministry evaluation report says many more Defence staff will have to be found offices elsewhere in central Wellington.
About 200 personnel are now housed outside Defence House. When the project started Defence intended to cut this to 100. But reductions in the space available meant "approximately 400 NZDF personnel are now expected to be located outside the new building".
This number is expected to decrease when Defence finishes relocating some of its functions.
It recently signed up to lease office space at the old General Motors assembly plant at Trentham, to serve as the base for its new joint logistics support organisation.
Spokesman Mike Shatford said Defence had about 800 staff in Wellington. The building was approved before the Government decided to build up defence over the next 10 years. More project staff were needed, and it also had to house senior air force staff in Wellington, pending Ohakea's redevelopment.
The capital cost of moving into the new headquarters buildings, being leased from Capital Properties Ltd, has risen steeply since Cabinet approved it in December 2003. The cost of the move, including fit-out, was put at $23.4 million. Annual operating costs were put at $2.2 million.
But last December the total cost was $41 million.
Operating costs were assessed at $5.7 million a year. This was to cover the cost of "additional security provisions, energy efficiency measures and improved design specifications ... higher costs for the fit-out, security and informational technology and communications infrastructure".
The report notes a lack of formal agreement between the organisations to occupy the building. Disagreements created "some friction".
Subleasing arrangements needed to be formalised between the NZDF and the ministry on rent, rights of renewal, rent reviews, payment of building operating costs and arrangements for shared facilities.
National Party defence spokesman Wayne Mapp said the project raised concerns about defence planning. Costs often doubled original estimates. He was surprised no provision was made to expand the NZDF or SIS.
Defence's new HQ 'already too small'
By HANK SCHOUTEN - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 16 January 2007
The cost of the new Defence headquarters in Wellington has almost doubled since the building contract was signed three years ago and it is already proving too small .
This is revealed in a Defence Ministry study of the building project.
The Defence Force, ministry and the Security Intelligence Service are scheduled to shift into the new 18,000-square-metre building on the corner of Aitken and Mulgrave streets within three months.
They are moving out of Defence House in Stout St, purpose-built as a defence headquarters in the 1940s.
But the new headquarters, supposedly designed to meet requirements for the next 20 or 30 years, is already too small. It is understood Defence is having to forgo space, to provide extra office accommodation for the SIS.
A just-released ministry evaluation report says many more Defence staff will have to be found offices elsewhere in central Wellington.
About 200 personnel are now housed outside Defence House. When the project started Defence intended to cut this to 100. But reductions in the space available meant "approximately 400 NZDF personnel are now expected to be located outside the new building".
This number is expected to decrease when Defence finishes relocating some of its functions.
It recently signed up to lease office space at the old General Motors assembly plant at Trentham, to serve as the base for its new joint logistics support organisation.
Spokesman Mike Shatford said Defence had about 800 staff in Wellington. The building was approved before the Government decided to build up defence over the next 10 years. More project staff were needed, and it also had to house senior air force staff in Wellington, pending Ohakea's redevelopment.
The capital cost of moving into the new headquarters buildings, being leased from Capital Properties Ltd, has risen steeply since Cabinet approved it in December 2003. The cost of the move, including fit-out, was put at $23.4 million. Annual operating costs were put at $2.2 million.
But last December the total cost was $41 million.
Operating costs were assessed at $5.7 million a year. This was to cover the cost of "additional security provisions, energy efficiency measures and improved design specifications ... higher costs for the fit-out, security and informational technology and communications infrastructure".
The report notes a lack of formal agreement between the organisations to occupy the building. Disagreements created "some friction".
Subleasing arrangements needed to be formalised between the NZDF and the ministry on rent, rights of renewal, rent reviews, payment of building operating costs and arrangements for shared facilities.
National Party defence spokesman Wayne Mapp said the project raised concerns about defence planning. Costs often doubled original estimates. He was surprised no provision was made to expand the NZDF or SIS.
