A concrete 'slab', which will house the library, visitor information centre and a flexible community space, was last week poured at the Forster Civic Centre site.
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According to MidCoast Council corporate and business systems director, Steve Embry, the project was progressing on schedule with works this month laying the foundations for the stage one public facilities.
Project managers have told us that last week marked a milestone with concrete pours commencing on the foundations of the building, Mr Embry said.
The initial pours were to establish the four 'lift pits' that would service the stage one building.
However, bigger and better was yet to come, with two very large concrete foundation pours being planned, Mr Embry said.
"Weather permitting, project managers are planning to undertake structural concrete pours on Thursday, April 18 April and Friday, April 26 that each will involve 300 cubic metres of concrete."
The project would require around 60 concrete trucks to access the site on each day - or about one truck every five minutes for the five hour pour.
Traffic control measures in Lake, Middle and West streets will be put in place, but motorists are advised to avoid the area if possible on those two days.
During the excavation stage of the build, between 120 and 170 truck movements took place each day, considerably more than either of the upcoming concrete pours.
Stage one of the civic precinct project is expected to be completed by September 2020.
A development agreement has been entered into between Enyoc Pty Ltd and council for the design and construction of these community facilities.
A development approval for the project was issued in September 2017 and that approval also allowed for the residual of the site to be developed in subsequent stages by Enyoc for mixed use commercial purposes, which include facilities such as seniors living apartments, retail shops, supermarket, hotel and a gymnasium.
The $18 million community facilities project is being delivered through a $6 million Federal Government National Stronger Regions Fund, $6 million from council and $6 million from Enyoc Pty Ltd, (as consideration for the sale of the residual land at the site).
For more information on the development visit the Forster Civic Precinct project.
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