There’s been plenty happening at Cobar Shire Council’s two construction sites at Ward Oval over the past few months.
The Cobar Weekly was invited for a walk-through of the new Early Learning Centre (ELC) and multipurpose hall construction sites last week with the contractor, David Payne Construction’s project manager Harry Denham, supplying an update on the works.
Mr Denham said the project was slightly behind schedule but that’s not unusual for a project of its scale and location. He said it’s still on track to be completed early next year.
He said the project was delayed due to the erection of the framework on the ELC taking longer than estimated.
The new multipurpose hall (which contains a kitchen, bar, an indoor open dining area, a stage, a designated office space, male and female toilet and changeroom amenities as well as undercover outdoor spaces) is being built concurrently with the ELC.
Work on the hall was previously about a week or two behind the ELC however with its hold up, the David Payne Construction team has pivoted and moved their focus to completing the hall first.
“We’ve reversed the plan,” Mr Denham said.
Work commenced on the hall’s roof last week with the window sub frames planned to be installed in December.
Mr Denham expects the hall will be at the lock-up stage by the end of December.
He said roofing should start on the ELC next month with most of the roof expected to be on by Christmas.
Work on the carparks for both areas will also commence next month in readiness for sealing.
New power poles to service the upgrades are to be installed early next year.
Council has also commenced work on a new barbecue area at Ward Oval which will be located behind the netball courts (where the portable toilet block was previously located).
