News
UPDATED DEC 3
Brisbane City Council’s promise to have the new $8 million Chinatown Mall open by Christmas may be back on track, with nightworks resuming after being halted for a night for lacking proper council approval.
Local councillor David Hinchliffe (Central Ward) told The Independent : "They've (the contractors) been working most nights ever since. They now have all their council approvals in place and they've been pulled into line."
It's a development that has not pleased Green Tea restaurant owner Tom Tran. His crucial weekend trade, where he has been hoping to recover some of the losses incurred by the much-delayed project, was badly affected last weekend, with nightworks starting early on Friday and Saturday nights and continuing well past his closing time.
Cr Hinchliffe said the stopwork order came after council officers were called by residents who had been kept up every night for a week with rock-breaking, pile-driving and concrete-sawing noise throughout the night.
"Some residents are on medication, it's got so bad", Cr Hinchliffe said. "Last week residents contacted the call centre and when compliance officers discovered the operation did not have the appropriate permits, they were shut down."
Resident Ian Mursell from Fortuneland apartments on the mall, is among a number of residents who have sent emails and made numerous calls to council to complain about the night work.
"All we're wanting," said Mr Mursell, "is justice and some commonsense. This is unfair and unreasonable for both residents and local restaurants to have to put up with all this."
Cr Hinchliffe said that relations between the council and the contractor ADCO were "strained".
“Everyone's pointing fingers at everyone else. I just think they should have consulted with the community right at the outset and sat down to work out the best way to construct this mall. They could have avoided all these problems."
The council promise to have the new mall opened by Christmas was made to this paper as our November 25 issue went to press. In that issue, Cr Hinchliffe expressed concerns that the mall may not be fully reopened until Chinese New Year in February.
The statement from the Lord Mayor’s Office said: “We expect the mall to be open in December, with a few finishing touches like artwork to be completed in January.
“The major cause of delays has come from utility companies taking this opportunity to get in under the mall and upgrade and future proof their services too. The lack of knowledge about the location of these utilities and the hardness of the rock under the mall has made this a very lengthy and slow process.
“The need to keep access to the shops and the car park open has also restricted us to doing much of the work one section at a time.
“We have also done a lot to support the traders during the mall upgrade, which we are spending $8 million on without requiring them to chip in like we have with other upgrades of shopping strips.
“This includes a $300,000 promotional campaign letting people know that Chinatown Mall is still open for business and waiving outdoor dining fees during construction.”
Economic Development chairman Cr Jane Prentice said that she expected most of the mall to be open by Christmas.
“In fact I think the Christmas opening time will work in the traders’ favour as curious shoppers come for a look at the new China Town Mall,” Cr Prentice said.
In one missive to Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, Ian Mursell wrote: “We are in desperate need to have the ongoing night works which are most definitely not essential to be done at night stopped immediately.
"Once again we are repeatedly not considered when 'essential' night works are carried out in front of our homes.
“Every night except Friday and Saturday nights we are assaulted with heavy machinery, rock breaking, backhoes, concrete cutting and earthmoving trucks working between 8.30pm through until 6am if stopping at all.
“The work that is carried out at night is not necessary to be done in the evenings. It isn't gas, water or power disruptions for residential or commercial tenants it is rock breaking, earthmoving, concrete cutting and heavy machinery.
“We have been advised on several occasions that residents would be considered and that night work would only be undertaken with considerable notice to residents and only when necessary. This is not what is happening on a daily basis.
“We 80 plus residents have been exceedingly patient with the lack of progress, continual disruption and no notification of the every night night works but enough is enough as to look at the site one would have to expect that given work done to date there is still several months more work to be done.”
