At a special meeting last Wednesday, council selected the Northam Recreation Centre Alliance to design and construct the new facility following a recommendation from Western Australian Local Government Association Procurement Services.

The contract will be signed with Cooper And Oxley as the contractual partner on behalf of the alliance with the subcontractors nominated in the tender being Centera Group Pty Ltd and Paterson Architects.

To the surprise of council’s senior staff, councillors voted unanimously and without debate to pass the staff recommendation.

There are still provisos but Wednesday’s council decision gives the go-ahead to the major project.

The 12 tenders received were assessed by WALGA’s Procurement Services which recommended the alliance be the preferred tenderer, especially as it was offering a design and construction contract.

Both WALGA and council senior staff preferred a design and construction contract.

“The design and construct option is recommended following assessment by WALGA and staff and the final project cost will be known once the design of the building is agreed. With the other options, the actual cost will not be finalised until further tenders for the building have been received which will require additional tender processes, time and costs,” staff advised council.

Following successful negotiations, a contract will be signed.

The cost of the project is estimated at about $10.5 million with confirmed funding of $5.8 million and possible funding of $4.7 million including $1.9 million of additional council borrowing.

While Cooper and Oxley started in Northam, the company is now a major Perth builder.

While the motion to go ahead with the recreation centre sailed through, a motion that council advise the Department of Sport and Recreation that the development of the town’s recreation facilities be its first priority for a $1 million Community Sport and Recreation Facilities Funding (CSRFF) grant did not have such an easy passage.

Councillor Michael Letch said insufficient attention was being paid to the fact that the population was ageing.

“I have no great enmity with the proposal but I am concerned we have been remiss in not doing sufficient work on the demographics,” he said.

Cr Bert Llewellyn said he was concerned how the ongoing costs of the new facilities would be met.

“Where is the income?” he said.

“This is a million dollars and we would be crazy not to go with it,” Cr Kathy Saunders said.

The motion was passed with only Cr Letch opposed.