Timber shortage blows budget for timber play structure for Thomas H Halton Park at Croudace Bay

Lake Macquarie Council called for bids in February from contractors to design and construct a bespoke timber ship play structure in the playground area of Thomas H Halton Park, based on a concept provided by council.

Four tenders were received with prices ranging from $593,720 to $890,979 - all of which were "considerably higher" than the budget allocated for the project. The black summer bushfires and the current housing construction boom have decimated timber supplies, causing product prices to rise across the country.

Councillors were recommended to refuse the offers and instead negotiate with another supplier to build the equipment with timber laminate, which has been quoted at $358,766. The motion was accepted unanimously.

Councillor Adam Schultz questioned why council didn't go down this direction to start with. Staff said when the project was first proposed, designers were looking for "a bespoke item" and hadn't considered another option besides timber.

"But when we started to look at alternative options we determined we could get a proposal that was unique for our location but from an alternative option that we thought was consistent with the themes of original ship," staff said.

Councillor Kevin Baker said while some COVID-related shortages were "artificial", like toilet paper, others such as timber were real.

"Timber prices have more than doubled in many instances," he said. "By looking at an alternative proposal we are using money in a very wise way ... and we're responding to the times that we're in."

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