PERMIT changes which are still going through Heritage Victoria for the positioning of the footings for the 77-room Quest Hotel and Apartments are behind what appears to be a shut down of work at the Ballarat Station redevelopment site.
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It is understood developer Pellicano has requested an amendment to the permit after ground work revealed changes were required to footings of the hotel due to the quality of surface underneath.
Geotechnical investigations are designed to measure the quality of subsurface soil, rock and water conditions on the construction site.
Findings from these investigations ensure that the foundations or footings of a building are placed in the strongest positions on site.
A mineshaft was discovered on the site in November last year, however another such discovery is not believed to be behind this delay, rather the quality of soil.
The geothechincal investigations for the future hotel site are understood to have been carried out at the conclusion of the construction of the multi-storey carpark opened in late February.
Regional Development Victoria confirmed this week that redesign works were in the process of being finalised.
"Further geotechnical investigations have identified the need for a minor redesign to the sub-surface footings of the hotel, and work on site will resume shortly," an RDV spokesperson told The Courier this week.
"Heritage Victoria, Regional Development Victoria and the developer, Pellicano, are also in discussion about possible amendments to support the re-sequencing of work to start construction of the hotel while finalising designs for the Goods Shed."
RDV said the delays were not expected to impact employment on the site.
Plans for the redevelopment at the station, which began with the multi-deck carpark, will also include the hotel on the former gravel car park site, a public plaza, a retail precinct located in the Goods Shed and a bus interchange on northern side of the station onto Nolan Street.
RDV is also expected to install a new set of traffic lights on Nolan Street prior to the bus interchange being constructed.
The timing of the redevelopment could not be better with statistics showing passenger numbers at Ballarat and Wendouree had risen in recent years.
The statistics reveal more than 750,000 people used the stations in the last financial year.
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