Geocon failed to meet specific milestones in the contract to deliver the Kingston Arts Precinct, leading the Suburban Land Agency to part ways with the commercial developer, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said.
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Mr Barr told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday the Suburban Land Agency had made the decision to cancel the contract with Geocon over the course of the year, but it could not be foreshadowed due to commercial sensitives.
"The changes were made because the board and the agency were not happy, they were not satisfied. The private-sector partner had in fact not reached the milestones that were in the contract," Mr Barr said in response to a question from Greens arts spokeswoman Jo Clay.
Mr Barr pointed to issues with heritage, the National Capital Design Review panel input and negotiations with organisations as reasons behind tearing up the contract with Geocon.
The Chief Minister said the arts organisations were informed of the decision to cancel the contract before the media and they "overwhelmingly commented quite positively that this would see a way through to address the issues that had arisen, particularly during the last eight months".
Mr Barr said the decision meant the agency would take over the delivery of the fifth stage of the Kingston foreshore redevelopment, which had been led by the agency's predecessor, the Land Development Agency.
Geocon managing director Nick Georgalis dodged questions about the Kingston Arts Precinct on Tuesday, saying despite the contract termination the company was in a good place.
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The ACT government revealed last Friday it had terminated a contract with Geocon for the arts precinct, nearly five years after the developer was named the preferred tenderer for the site, which was first put on the market in 2015.
The agency will review the project's timeline and consult again with the community, but the government hopes it will be completed in 2025, 10 years after the project - set to include purpose-built arts facilities alongside residential developments - was put out to tender.
The 40,295-square-metre site is the last undeveloped block on the Kingston foreshore, surrounding the heritage-registered Kingston powerhouse and former transport depot.
Key arts organisations - including PhotoAccess, ArtSound FM, M16 Artspace, Craft ACT and Canberra Contemporary Artspace - are slated to move to the new precinct, which would include residential and commercial development.
Geocon and the ACT government signed an agreement for the project in July 2019, after protracted negotiations pushed back the scheduled start of construction by more than a year. Construction was originally due to begin in early 2019.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
