St Albans’ new $8.96 million Errington Community Centre will be a two-storey building after Brimbank council approved plans last Tuesday.
Council chairman John Watson said the 1800-square-metre design was selected ahead of a two-building option because it offered significant advantages and had strong community support.
Star Weekly revealed in June that the council was considering two options: two linked buildings, including a refurbished community centre, or a two-storey building including an extended and refurbished community centre.
Both plans sought to maintain the east-west Princess Street axis, linking St Albans Road through to the Errington Reserve Oval.
However, the first option would have to be built on an existing car park. A $2.5 million grant from the St Albans Community Centre Co-operative in September last year allowed the council to include performing
arts space.
Council community well-being director Neil Whiteside said provisional funding allocated in the 2016-17 capital works budget for the refurbishment of the existing building would be brought forward to this financial year. “When the provisionally allocated funds for both capital works projects are combined, the resulting budget … is $8.96 million, with council’s total funding commitment being $5.96 million over the course of the project,’’ Mr Whiteside said.
The council is investigating how to best relocate users of the centre during the development. The new centre is scheduled to open in May 2016.
