By Luke Voogt
Geelong development company Techne Group has secured the tender for the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) headquarters at the Carlton Hotel.
Company chairman Michael Vickers-Willis described winning the right to build the headquarters as a privilege.
“It’s been a long journey but we’re pleased to have this positive outcome in the end,” he said.
Mr Vickers-Willis said the development would help make Geelong an international centre for excellence in the insurance and administrative industries.
“We’re in an outstanding location positioned between TAC and Worksafe.”
The hotel had long been rumoured to be the site of the headquarters, but a Federal Government statement made it official this week.
The statement said about 85 per cent of the headquarter’s construction workforce would come from Geelong.
“The project is structured so there is maximum positive economic benefit for Geelong,” Mr Vickers-Willis said.
The accessible and energy-efficient building will be the workplace of 450 NDIA employees and the home of the Federal Department of Human Services, Mr Vicker-Willis said.
“In total there will be in excess of 800 permanent long-term positions.”
The nine-level development incorporates the heritage-listed Carlton Hotel, and will retain and renovate features of its facade.
The government will invest $120m in the headquarters, after selecting Techne Group’s proposal in an open public tender.
The Victorian Government contributed $25 million to assist in the relocation of the NDIA head office from Canberra to Geelong.
Kane Constructions, the builder behind the Geelong Library redevelopment, will build the headquarters.
CFMEU this week launched industrial actions against Kane co-inciding with the Turnbull Government’s impending re-introduction of an Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
There were fears the industrial actions could impede Kane’s development of Simonds Stadium.
But Mr Vickers-Willers said Kane Constructions would begin work on the NDIA headquarters in the second quarter of 2017, meaning the industrial action was unlikely to affect it .
NDIA, which is responsible for delivering the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), is expected to move into the new headquarters in late 2018.
