The saga with GESAC rolls on and on. Contractual problems such as liquidated damages, delays in opening, another year’s extension on final settlement, and now the unwilling admission that there are some major construction faults doesn’t paint a pretty picture of council’s oversighting of this entire project. There’s no doubt that there are problems when pools are closed for weeks at a time for ‘maintenance’ on a facility that has barely been in existence for a year. Lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank whilst council is still pouring more and more money into GESAC. In the past 6 months there’s been the diversion of $45,000 from a maternal child care centre to GESAC, plus another $15,000 recently announced. And we mustn’t forget 2 car park extensions and the ludicrous relocation of a playground that has ended up costing over a million dollars. Now full page colour advertisements have started again. When we’re repeatedly told that the place is a roaring success, then we have to ask whether continued, and expensive advertising, is warranted or even necessary.
The latest evidence of things not going smoothly just happens to be a tender advertisement in The Age.
“Contract No.: 2014.025
GESAC – Replacement of AHU and Associated Ducting
Requirement: Replacement of pool air handler and associated return & exhaust portion of ducting.
Tenders Closing date:
4 October 2013 by 4.00 pm.”
What caught our eye is the fact that it is not Hansen & Yuncken that are tendering but council. Does this therefore mean that ratepayers are footing another bill to rectify problems with GESAC? Given that this has gone out to tender, then we can assume that the costs will run into tens of thousands. Of course, expecting council to actually inform its residents as to the real state of affairs is nothing more than a pipe dream. The illusion of smooth sailing must be maintained. Here are some fundamental questions about GESAC and its overall governance:
- Have any councillors ever seen, or even requested, a ledger account of every cent spent and every cent earned?
- Did any councillors ever clap eyes on the contract with Hansen & Yuncken, or was all this left in the ‘capable’ hands of officers?
- And if we’re talking of tendering, was the architect’s work ever tendered, since we can find no record of this in any newspaper?
- When will residents (and councillors) be told the true costs of GESAC?
- Are ratepayers still subsidising the Warriors for the basketball allocations?
Glen Eira Debates 
September 12, 2013 at 10:21 AM
It really is a shame that this Council can’t be as open and transparent as they claim to be. Any major facility can expect teething troubles but it seems rather than letting the residents know about them this Council feeds negative speculation by keeping everything under wraps.
They did it with the delayed GESAC opening, they are doing it with the legal disputes, only after the thing was built did they admit that knew all along that the provision of parking was inadequate, they did it with the basketball allocations (still a festering wound for many), they continue to do it with the finances.
It just seems to be the way this Council functions and the fact that it continues on is an indictment on every Councillor.
September 12, 2013 at 11:46 AM
For sure things aren’t going to plan
“WATERSLIDE WILL NOW REOPEN SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER
Works to the water slide and waterslide tower have recently been undertaken to repair a number of outstanding defects. This work was scheduled to be completed on Thursday 12 September. However, the contractors performing the work will require an additional day to get the best outcome on curing the applied paint and floor coverings. This means that the waterslides will not open until 10am Saturday 14 September. GESAC apologises for any inconvenience.” I’ve copied this from the Facebook page.
Who’s paying for all this fixing?
September 12, 2013 at 4:11 PM
Busted air handler and returns, paint and floor coverings – and it only opened in 7 May, 2012 (6 months late). Over $1.5 m on ad hoc fixes to always known inadequate car parking (next will be moving the skate park). Hire purchase gym and exercise equipment.
No matter how much Council claims it’s a roaring success (with out actually providing meaningful data) cracks are appearing.
September 12, 2013 at 12:24 PM
It is winter so there should be a drop off in attendances but I’ve driven past a couple of times recently and the car parks are half empty. Maybe that’s why the advertising has started again to get the numbers up. It wouldn’t help having to close parts for a few weeks here and there either.
September 13, 2013 at 7:04 AM
Council should never have built such a major facility as GESAC – they simply didn’t have the skill set to provide appropriate major project supervision and despite the required skill set being available in the market place (construction of aquatic/sports centres is/was not unknown) they didn’t get them.
The
.”silent” 6 month opening delay,
. much heralded liquified damages claim has gone remarkably silent as the claim/counterclaim drags on and legal costs mount,
. $1.5 million extra spent on ad hoc parking solutions to a problem that was known from the start (incidently the cost of putting in adequate underground parking during the construction phase of $2.5m was ignored) and
. now in less than 18 months they are having major condensation issues and having to replace plant and equipment that shouldn’t need to be replaced, The fact that the “fixes” require closure of the facility only compounds the issues/costs.
These are all indicators of inadequate project management
Council made a choice – it decided to economize on expertise and project oversight. It comes as no surprise to find these economies at the start result in additional costs at the end. The only question now is by how much the additional end costs will exceed those original economies. As the burden for ratepayers grows, the question will remain one that no Councillor will ask.