Sibling Architecture has fleshed out the concept designs passed to them back in November, addressing challenges such as accessibility and flow, car park design, acoustic isolation and engineering works. They also suggested improvements to the foyer design and ways to make spaces more versatile.

At an extraordinary meeting of Bellingen Shire Council on July 29, councillors were presented with two options for moving ahead with the project - Option A involving an increase in funding of $1.6m above the currently allocated amount of $4.13m, or a budget-compliant Option B with a shorter-term vision.

The $4m makeover heralded back in December 2018 included $3.3m from a Regional Cultural Fund grant, $335,000 from a Stronger Country Communities grant and $92,000 from a Heritage Near Me Activation grant. The council also proposed to contribute $650,000 as the project involved upgrading the car park behind the hall.

The original vision incorporated a new two-storey wing at the rear of the existing building with flexible spaces to accommodate intimate performances or film screenings, a Green Room, an exhibition or function area, kitchen, supper room, two change rooms, an outdoor upper deck, stairs to the main hall and a lift connecting to a revamped car park. The hall was to have its toilets, fittings and finishes updated, new raked seating installed, new trolley storage under the stage to improve access to instruments and equipment, solar panels, a hearing loop, foyer upgrades and improved lighting and flooring.

In the six months after the makeover funding was announced, the project management team worked with the hall committee to review and update the original concept designs, which had been drafted somewhat hastily to meet the deadline for the grant application. The revised versions were then showcased at an open community consultation session in June 2019.

At the council meeting in November 2019 when the tender for the detailed design of the Memorial Hall upgrade, extension and car park was awarded to Sibling Architecture, there was great excitement about pressing the button on the project, plus some trepidation about the size of the undertaking.

Cr Steve Klipin expressed concern that the project's costs might balloon out of control, as had happened with Port Macquarie's Glasshouse. Council's deputy general manager and project sponsor, Michelle McFayden, replied that their greatest fear had been coming in over budget when the detailed design was costed. She said they had containment measures in place and were being careful to keep it in check. "I'm as confident as I can be," she said.

At the council meeting in July 2020, Michelle provided the following explanation of what had happened since then.

"Once we started working with Sibling, we took a few steps back to go forwards and we revisited those areas that we knew needed review from the initial concept. And using the key user requirements that we'd already identified, we made efforts to address those.

"For example, things around the foyer, the lack of community space for social connection, the accessibility issues and the flow issues within the hall and the new area.

"The result of this was a number of iterative designs, and some of them were very innovative, but all of them tried to balance a refresh of the hall, the new facilities, anticipating the future requirements and also other constraints like the budget and land constraints ... We arrived at a design that countered and addressed all of the limitations of the original design - the engineering, the car park, the accessibility and the like, and we have a clearer picture of the overall design required to meet the current users' requirements, the upgrade needs, the future requirements and also the constraints of the budget. What we settled on is what today is being called Option A."

Option A is described in the agenda documents as "a design that meets the aspirations of the vision for HUB and the grant application, meets the current needs of the community and the upgrade needs of the hall, provides the right mix of potential, re-use and adaptability to promote and enable new opportunities, performances and capability for the Shire - well into the future".

The councillors voted for Option A and also endorsed the motion that the extra money be found via an internal loan from council's water fund reserves, subject to ministerial approval. If that approval is not forthcoming, council will seek a commercial loan.

The motion carried reads: "Approve the utilisation of up to $1.6m in funds from council's water fund reserves (subject to Ministerial approval) to be repaid at commercial interest rates via an internal loan and adjust the Long Term Financial Plan accordingly. In the event that this approval is not secured, authorise the taking of a commercial loan up to $1.6m."

Cr Steve Jenkins was the only one to vote against the motion.

"It seems that the grant funding that has been provided unfortunately turns out to be inadequate to do the whole project," he said. "Why can't these works be staged to some degree to alleviate the need for the council to incur debt? Particularly when we're in the middle of a special rate variation?"

The reply was that the requirements of the grant would not be met if the project was done in stages. However, there is still the possibility of securing additional funding, which would reduce the loan amount.

Asked by the Courier-Sun whether ministerial approval for borrowing $1.6m from council's water fund reserves had been granted, a council spokesperson said "any additional funds are not required until next financial year, so any request to the Minister, if required, will occur early next year".

Council also emailed the following comment:

"The Hall to Hub Arts Evolution Project has been just that, an evolutionary journey informed by extensive consultation with key stakeholders to inform the Final Concept Design process of the project, which actually commenced with the appointment of Sibling Architecture in November 2019.

"Logically, this design process has considered existing challenges and discovered additional restoration requirements, and these findings have informed the project's Final Concept Design A Option, which has been endorsed by Council to proceed to the Detailed Design and Development Phase of the project.

"Subsequently, the Final Concept Design A Option addresses a range of redevelopment challenges and in parallel, takes advantage of the opportunity to invest additional funds to expand the project's original carparking capacity by approximately 66% to almost 100 spaces.

"Appropriately, the Development Application Process will now commence, and subject to feedback on the proposal and an assessment of the application, an additional application for a Construction Certificate will be lodged for approval to allow for further works to commence on the project.

"Consequently, the project is progressing well and construction will commence, subject to securing the appropriate approvals, to realise the project's original vision and deliver a suite of additional improvements to ensure this iconic heritage listed community asset realises its true potential by meeting the needs of our community and future generations."