$250,000 FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR
ACT GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING

The ACT Government has allocated $250,000 in the Budget to a feasibility study on a possible new Government office building, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said today.

“More than 3000 of the ACT Government’s public servants currently occupy office space scattered across the city and a number of these tenancies expire in 2010,” Mr Stanhope said.

“Indications are that the most appropriate way to house a sizeable proportion of the Territory’s public workforce may be a purpose-built facility.

“The trend at the Commonwealth level has been to sell off publicly-owned office space, but it may be that the costs of building a dedicated office space for ACT public servants are outweighed by the long-term benefits. This is just one of the issues a feasibility study would allow the Government to properly explore.

“The funding allocated in the 2005-06 Budget will let the Government evaluate a number of options for meeting the ACT public service’s long-term accommodation needs in the city.

“We need to address issues such as the appropriate size, design and location of a possible office building, the costs of constructing and owning a building, compared to the costs of renting, and technical matters, including sustainability.

“We also need to explore how such a major construction project would benefit the broader Canberra community, in terms of job creation during the construction phase, and the extent to which it might be desirable to involve private-sector partners.

“If the results of the feasibility work proved that the project was a sound idea, the Government would ensure that any purpose-built office space would be a five or six-star building, showcasing the Government’s commitment to sustainable design.”
Statement ends