How did we get to the point of facing building demolition?

---

In 2015, an independent building  assessment was carried out on the Patrick English Pavilion by T&W Kolber. The report found the building needed maintenance and repair work carried out including to the purlins (structural roof members), trusses and cladding. It found the roof needed to be replaced.

In 2018 a comprehensive structural engineering assessment was undertaken by PDR SMEC. The report made clear that issues previously raised had not been rectified.  The report found damage to the structural trusses including wet rot, termite damage, missing structural supports and damaged fasteners.The report summarised:

 'In addition to the works proposed to return the property to a sound structural condition, it is recommended that the asset owner consider a detailed maintenance and inspection regime'  (PDR SMEC Structural Assessment Report 7/11/2018)  

Instead of attending to the issues raised in successive engineering reports, the building was left to rot. Why?

In 2020 TRC stated the cost to repair the building was 2 million dollars. The demolition of the Patrick English Pavilion, and the construction of a modern replacement building costing a whopping 5.6 million dollars was proposed. Where did this proposal come from?

An internal report titled 'Malanda Community Facilities Options' was tabled to council in December 2020. Ironically this report was co-tabled by  TRC's 'Community Engagement Officer'. This is astounding as proper community consultation of the wider community did not occur. Instead TRC officers had spoken to certain  special interest groups that championed the replacement building, wanting a modern multi purpose facility. The local TRC representative, Cr. Bilney has stated his support for a replacement multi purpose building to be constructed, replacing the Pavilion.

The wider community, have not been consulted by Tablelands Regional Council. 

Decisions that impact on the community as a whole must include proper community consultation - and TRC has without a doubt failed the people of Malanda on this mark on many fronts over recent years. 

TRC has recently stated that assessments were carried out on the building 'annually'. We now know that to be false. No further independent engineering assessments were conducted in 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022.

In 2023, a Structural Condition and Assessment report was carried out by TEG. The engineering report found that the state of the building had deteriorated significantly due to TRC's failure to carry out the recommended repairs. 

"The current inspection revealed that very little had been done to rectify any of the damage previously identified and subsequently most of the issues remain and many have become more serious adding to the dilapidation of the structure." 

The report found major damage to the truss frame, (and other serious issues) compromising the structural integrity of the building.

This report rated the risk factor as HIGH that the structural failure of the trusses would occur within 12 months, if action was not taken to repair the damage.  The recommendation: “Take immediate action in [the] short term.. to address defects.”  (TEG Consulting Engineers Engineering Report 1/6/23)  

We are talking about the impending failure of the structural integrity of the building, posing a potential threat to public safety  and despite this, despite TRC having been informed that failure was likely within just 12 months, nothing was done – the building was not repaired, and every person that used that facility unbeknown to themselves was put at risk.

On the 17th May 2024 TRC advised the public via a facebook post that the Malanda Pavilion would be closed after an assessment identified structural issues in the building. These would be the same issues warned about in the previous reports.

For reasons known only to TRC it took nearly 24 hours for council to advise the wider community of this issue. The 2024 report states an opinion of probably construction cost of over 2.33 million to properly repair the building.

A Right to Information (RTI) request was lodged seeking access to all engineering assessment and  records over the last ten years. The engineering reports were supplied and can be found in the "link" page on this website. 

Additionally, RTI requests were made for all quotations and invoices for repairs. pertaining to the structural issues raised in the engineering assessments, over the last decade. The stunning response 'the document does not exist'. The documents do not exist because no repair work to address the serious defects was ever carried out. Worse still, no quotations were ever obtained! (The 2 million figures TRC stated in 2020 was their own 'estimation').

The engineering assessment reports, make absolutely clear that the failure of TRC to maintain and repair the building, directly led to the current situation.

This raises a very serious question. Has TRC in their desire to cater to special interest groups, and their own agenda, deliberately avoided carrying out proper maintenance on the building, seeking to use this as justification to replace the building with a multi purpose facility? A building, many would argue is not in keeping with Malanda character, and certainly shouldn't be seen as a replacement for this iconic building...

Update 2nd August 2024: We now know that the Patrick English Pavilion has a TRC Heritage Overlay.  Under the planning act,  the demolition of the pavilion could not occur unless an engineering report is submitted to council demonstrating the building is not REASONABLY CAPABLE of being made structurally sound. When council officers recommended the demolition of the Pavilion in 2020, the Heritage overlay prevented this from occurring. This legal impediment was not disclosed to councillors.    

The 2023 TEG report warned of the potential risk posed to public safety with six separate pages outlining structural issues requiring “immediate action”.  Despite the threat to public safety therein revealed, the public was not informed, and the building was left to rot for another year.  

Why then was a report commissioned just 12 months later? Was it expected as outlined by TEG, that failure would occur and the trigger for demolition would thus be enabled?

The 2024 report provided the sole opinion that could potentially enable the demolition.  In our opinion, TRC should consider demolishing the Pavilion and Stage due to the cost of rendering them safe to occupy.  

The Heritage Overlay must have been known to the CEO and council officers. Under the rules of local government, council officers take instruction from the CEO. The question is - did the CEO and officers properly inform councillors of the true status of the Pavilion?