The costs for a fernery project in Ballarat Botanical Gardens have gone more than a quarter of a million dollars over budget - and there is still no home for the ferns.
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There is also not yet any detailed design work for any structure to house the majority of the plants, nor is there any confirmed funding to allow its construction - although grant applications have been submitted.
The fernery has had a funding allocation of $1.4 million since the 2015 budget. The Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens said in a newsletter that year funds would allow a "complete remodelling" of the dilapidated old structure.
A subsequent design process officers have described in documents as "exhaustive" included the shelving of architectural work reportedly worth more than $100,000 in 2017.
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Building work is now taking place on site off Wendouree Parade. However, the construction is for a recreation of the 19th-century Gothic entrance to a fernery - with no plant collection costed in.
One close observer called the structure being built at the moment as "a quarter of a fernery".
That assessment came as a City of Ballarat spokesperson this week confirmed to The Courier that the costs for construction now stood at $1.67 million - or $270,000 more than originally budgeted.
In a council meeting on May 27 this year, councillors had agreed to embark on "stage two" of the project. In an agenda item discussed for seven minutes, no councillors asked any substantive questions about the project, its scope, nor the delays in putting it in place.
The motion was to set out to allow designs to take place and for applications for state funding to proceed.
A council spokesperson said there were no detailed costs for the next stage of the project as it was still being designed, and that no further costs were anticipated for the first stage.
Officers in May recommended designs be for "an open-air fernery utilising natural shade and some minimal built form to support the fern collection."
Clearly the goalposts have shifted. Where responsibility for that lies, we would all like to know
- Cr Des Hudson
As with the Gatekeepers Cottage project a short distance away - which itself overran the costs first stated five times over - the project is widely perceived as a favourite of previous mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh.
Cr Mark Harris told The Courier: "It reflects the same problems in that it was a Councillor McIntosh initiative."
He said he had queried the costs at portfolio meetings and said councillors were inquisitive but had not said anything at the May 27 meeting - which he said could be seen as a "problem in itself". He says that while he voted for the work, he now feels the project was "poorly conceived."
Cr McIntosh said she believed the fernery will be "a spectacular feature that will be admired by people around the country and internationally".
She said there were concerns about earlier designs being too expensive, and that the current design was much less costly.
She also said the stage one fernery entrance would "still have plants in it" - but that most of the plants would be installed for in stage 2.
Cr Des Hudson said some lessons could be learned: "We need to be better at those costings and making sure a project is fully funded - and that we don't go outside those parameters and keep changing it on the run."
"Once the project has been signed off, that's when councillors should step out of that space. We're not subject matter experts in design."
"Clearly the goalposts have shifted. Where responsibility for that lies, we would all like to know."
The mayor Cr Ben Taylor said the overrun on the budget was not known in May and there did not seem to be a need to query the recommendation to proceed to the next stage. This view was also expressed by Cr Grant Tillett, who described himself as "very angry" about the budget overrun. He said the project was "stymied" by the requirements of Heritage Victoria, which he said had delayed its building.
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The Courier also understands that ambitious concept plans led by landscape architect Laidlaw and Laidlaw Design, as well as Bower Architecture - with build costs of up to $4million, which could have been completed in stages - were shelved in 2017. The estimated cost to the ratepayer was reportedly more than $100,000. A separate architect, Andrew Fedorowicz, was hired to oversee the delivery of the recreated Gothic entrance.
Cr McIntosh was a strong advocate for the Gothic imitation designs.
Councillors signed off the budget allocation in 2015, then after extensive delays the project went before the council chamber again in October 2017. Council agreed then to forge ahead within the initial funding scope of the project if no external sources of income were found in six months.
The Chair of the Lakes and Gardens Committee Cr Daniel Moloney said there was a lot of debate whether to proceed with a modern concept or the copy of the past that was eventually adopted.
"That was ultimately Sam's decision. Everyone else was happy to defer to the officers," he said. "We didn't object to that because we thought it was fine. The officers went with it too."
It will be a spectacular feature that will be admired by people around the country and internationally.
- Cr Samantha McIntosh
Renovation works to the gardens' fernery were identified as a priority project from community consultation more than five years ago. After a much delayed start to the works, the previous fernery was demolished last winter, and the building works went out to tender.
In a statement, the Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens committee said it was pleasing "to see the commencement of the long awaited fernery redevelopment", a move they said they had supported for 20 years.
"Plants are vital to all aspects of our lives so the more we understand the better. It is the vision that the full completion of the fernery will enrich these aims."
They said funds accumulated through the Friends would be contributed "to enhance future grant applications".
At the ordinary council meeting on Wednesday, councillors are expected to ask more questions about the details of the project's costs.
TIMELINE
March 2016:Ballarat's fernery set for redevelopment
October 2019: Victorian fernery returns to Ballarat Botanical Gardens
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