Work on Dunedin Court continues

Work on proposals to strengthen Dunedin’s historic courthouse is continuing at pace, Justice and Courts Minister Amy Adams says.

The Minister met with officials from the Ministry of Justice this week to discuss the draft business case.

Ms Adams says the work done to date confirms both the complexity and cost of the project to strengthen the court house.

“The options put forward for the courthouse have now been comprehensively investigated and peer reviewed by a number of independent specialist engineers, and costed by quantity surveyors,” Ms Adams says.

“The investigations show that as a category one heritage building, strengthening the court house will be a complex project and will require a significant capital investment of more than $15 million whichever option is decided upon.”

Cabinet rules require projects of this magnitude and cost to be subject to a Treasury assessment process and then approval by Cabinet, which will take a number of months to complete.

Once the business case has been finalised and submitted for Treasury assessment, a Cabinet paper on a preferred option can be prepared and taken to Cabinet for a decision.

“To reiterate my previous statements, my intention and desire is to return court services to Dunedin’s historic courthouse and that hasn’t changed.

“While I recognise that the Dunedin community would like immediate certainty about the timeframes for return to the historic courthouse, it is equally important that Cabinet undertakes a robust process before approving a significant investment of public money.”

“As the business case will be subject to a commercial procurement process it would not be appropriate to release it publicly at this time.”