The Invercargill Licensing Trust has enlisted an experienced project manager to oversee the build of its multi-million dollar inner city hotel.
Tess Browne, of The Building Intelligence Group, will bring independent leadership to the flagship project, which has an approved budget of up to $40 million.
The 120-room inner city hotel will be built on the corner of Don and Dee Streets. Construction is planned in two stages – the first featuring 80 guest rooms, function/conference facilities, restaurant, bar, café and car parking. Stage two with an additional 40 rooms will follow when demand warrants it.
“On a job of this size, the devil is in the detail,” Browne said. “I firmly believe in the importance of due diligence, so you can have confidence that what you are putting out to the public is actually what you are going to deliver.
“Our job is purely to represent the Trust as our client and to ensure they are getting the best outcome and the best value for their investment.
“We live in a world now where there is just an incredible amount of compliance … you literally have a team of 15 or 20 stakeholders, consultants and advisers that all have specialist interests in a project. It’s just unbelievable the amount of people that have to be coordinated so you need to ensure the details, processes and systems are all in place.”
Thriving on the challenge of large scale developments, Browne is a highly experienced project director and has an array of high calibre projects to her credit, including a $75m Ministry of Education quest to concurrently build or redevelop eight schools following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Spark’s $42m Data Exchange, the new Sumner Library and Community Centre, the $10m restoration of the category 1 Heritage listed Christchurch Club, the refurbishment of the IBIS and Novotel hotels and Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium.
“I think project managers are incredibly lucky. It’s a job where you go from building a new stadium to a new hotel to a new office block or a school … there’s just so much diversity,” she said.
Browne was enthusiastic about the Trust’s hotel plans.
“I’m incredibly excited – in terms of a project to be able to work on, it’s got it all,” she said.
“The aim will be to design and develop something which feels as engaging to the local community as it does to a visitor to the city.”
“The ILT seems like a really community-focused organisation and that’s a space I enjoy working in.”
Since relocating to Invercargill last October with her husband and two young children, Browne has been impressed by the pro-active approach to the city’s future, including the Southland Regional Development Strategy (SoRDS).
“I was just in awe of the energy and drive the local community has to get major projects underway to rejuvenate the city,” she said.
“It’s incredibly ambitious to see a regional centre not only invest in a new hotel, but even plan to effectively demolish a whole city block and redevelop it.
“The community really seems to be behind progress and it’s really refreshing actually. It’s a totally different environment here with a genuine warmth and eagerness to see businesses succeed.”
It prompted The Building Intelligence Group to establish a presence in the south, complementing its offices in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch.
The company’s South Island Business Manager Ian Smith believed Invercargill and Dunedin were excellent launching points to do business in the south and they were looking forward to working with clients in the region.
ILT board chairman Alan Dennis said Browne’s experience would prove a vital asset, working closely with the Trust’s own Project Control Group.
“As a project manager, Tess ticked all the boxes – independent, honest, confident and a clear thinker who is innovative and solution-driven. She understands the role of a project manager and has the professional expertise to keep everything on time and on budget,” he said.
“It’s great to be able to appoint someone locally-based and Tess has the background experience and knowledge to navigate the many components of this development, along with the credibility to ensure its as successful as previous projects she has led.”