The historic community hub and one of the world’s longest-running cinemas was destroyed in a fire on Waitangi Day last year.
At a Central Otago District Council-hosted community meeting on the project this week, rebuild steering committee member councillor Curtis Pannett said with the prospect of council amalgamation coming it was crucial people put forward what they wanted in the new building.
‘‘My view is that this will be the last project in a very long time that will built in Roxburgh if councils are amalgamated,’’ Cr Pannett said.
‘‘So I encourage this community and everyone you talk to to get involved and make sure you get everything you think we need now and into the future in front of the architect so that it can form part of the design — because it is very unlikely anyone will be coming back here in the next 25 to 30 years to build us something else that we forgot.’’
Cr Pannett said the council had banked $6.4million from insurance on the building.
About $200,000 had been spent on site clearing but that might be recovered in interest earnings, he said.
Council property and facilities manager Garreth Robinson said the council had put out requests for proposals for architects and had already received queries from seven different firms, indicating a high level of interest.
Councillors, the Teviot Valley community board and the rebuilding steering committee would soon hear presentations from short-listed applicants.
‘‘We are then on a journey to develop a high-level concept plan.’’
There would be engagement with the community before the plan was developed so it would take about four months to produce, Mr Robinson said.
If the plan required significantly more money than budgeted, the project would have to go to the council’s long-term plan, he said.
‘‘And I’ll state this, if it’s going to the LTP the build gets delayed — that’s the bottom line — it has to go for consultation and it’s probably about a two- to three-year delay.’’
At this stage, the new building was expected to be open by the end of 2028, he said.
