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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (9 August) . . Page.. 2926 ..

To fully rectify these instances of non compliance requires extensive work and would be an uneconomical use of ACTTAB's resources. These problems have necessitated the need to relocate to a building fully compliant with current regulations and codes.

(2) The Australian Services Union Representatives, at a Staff Consultative Committee Meeting in 1999, put management on notice that the state of the Head Office Facility was such that, without a commitment to upgrade the facility, the Union would have no alternative but to issue a Performance Improvement Notice (PIN) to ACTTAB.

I am advised that Cox Humphries Moss reported on the head office facility in October 1999. The report was commissioned by ACTTAB to establish the most economic and efficient method to bring the facility in Dickson up to a functional and contemporary standard.

(3) I am advised that John Raineri & Associates Pty Ltd, Consulting Engineers, as part of the Cox Humphries Moss report inspected the head office facility and reported on the installed services conditions and conformance with the Building Code of Australia.

(4) ACTTAB believes that the proposed new Head Office will provide efficiencies in the following areas:

decreased expenditure on preventative and emergency maintenance of existing electrical and mechanical services;

efficient utilisation of the new facility, as only 60% of the current head office facility is in use by ACTTAB or tenants; and

availability of the latest telecommunications services (TransACT) which would ensure better technological redundancies.

(5) ACTTAB advises that no estimated savings of operational efficiencies over the next 10 years have been quantified in respect of the occupational health and safety issues, non-compliance with current building regulations and codes and the inefficient utilization of current head office facility.

As a responsible employer, ACTTAB is concerned that it does not contribute in any way to an Occupational Health & Safety issue in the workplace.

ACTTAB advises that the increasing costs of maintenance of the current facility, particularly in relation to the air conditioning system, illustrates the costs incurred in maintaining a system highlighted by the consultants as being beyond its economic and useful life. Over the last three years maintenance costs for the air-conditioning system alone have reached $68k.

(6) I am advised by ACTTAB that efficiencies cannot be achieved in the current headquarters without a major refurbishment of the premises, at an estimated cost of $3m.

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