Hervey Bay Community Hub

Local tradies and sub-contractors are being urged to register their interest in participating in the construction of the new Fraser Coast Regional Council library and administration building (incl disaster resilience centre) in the Hervey Bay City Centre.

Early Contract Involvement head contractor Hensen Yunken is currently seeking expressions of interest from local trades and suppliers, with construction work expected to start in late 2023 and be completed by late 2025.

Council is partnering with the Australian Government through the Hinkler Regional Deal to improve local economic outcomes and create opportunities in the Hervey Bay City Centre.

In developing a new Hervey Bay Library and Council Administration Centre (incorporating a Disaster Resilience Centre), we want to create a building that sets the benchmark for business, investors and developers.

The Library and Council Administration Centre will be a central civic hub where individuals, professionals and families can come to learn, network, socialise and benefit from Council services.

The project is expected to create more jobs for local people, with tradies and subbies encouraged to register their interest in working on the new Hervey Bay Library and Administration Centre via Council’s Engagement Hub websites - for tradies & sub-contractors and local suppliers. There is an online form to fill out to register some details about your business.

It is important to note that registering your interest is not a guarantee of the work, as the head contractor will ultimately be responsible for organising sub-contractors and doing due diligence before developing any sub-contracting agreements.

The development of a new Hervey Bay Library and Administration Centre (incl Disaster Resilience Centre) is a key element of the Hervey Bay City Centre Master Plan, which was finalised and adopted by Council in 2022, following significant community consultation. It is a once in a generation opportunity to reshape the city centre in Hervey Bay to create jobs and to drive economic growth and business investment.

Need for a new library:

The current Hervey Bay library had about 225,000 visitations a year and is only half the size it should be to meet Australian and Queensland library building standards. By improving our library’s floor size and design, we will have the opportunity to improve and build on our programming, offering excellent learning opportunities and hopefully make a contribution to lifting our region’s overall education standard.

The new library will be more than double the size of the current library with a range of modern, community spaces to ensure we can cater for our growing population over the next 20 years and beyond.

The building work will be funded through a combination of Australian Government funding, Council land sales and Council borrowings.

More details about the Hervey Bay Library and Administration Centre (incorporating a Disaster Resilience Centre) project is available at https://frasercoast.engagementhub.com.au/hervey-bay-library-administration-centre-inc-disaster-resilience-centre

Additional background

The Hinkler Regional Deal for the Bundaberg-Hervey Bay region is an Australian Government initiative in partnership with the local Councils that seeks to build on the area’s strengths to provide economic growth and long-term employment.