Official Information Request - Hemo Gorge sculpture
Sent: Friday, 19 February 2021 11:04 am
Subject: LGOIMA request - Hemo sculpture
I refer to your email of 21 January 2021 under LGOIMA for information regarding the Hemo sculpture, and reply below as per your email:
1. Why were the costs related to the Hemo sculpture omitted from the Annual Plan each year up to and including 2020?
The costs related to the sculpture are included within the Arts & Culture budget reported in the Annual Plan.
2. What were all the design phase costs including with Te Puia, any costs incurred with the company in Canada and with Kilwell prior to that company accepting to undertake the project?
Council called for expressions of interest from artists to design an art piece for the roundabout. Thirteen expressions of interest were received. A shortlist of five were provided with $500 each to develop their design further (total of $2,500). There were no costs incurred with the company in Canada or with Kilwell prior to accepting the work.
3. Who owns the I P for the sculpture?
The intellectual property is owned by a partnership of Rotorua Lakes Council, Te Puia and Kilwell.
4. Council has previously published man hours, costs of Council staff time and legal costs for activities beyond its usual and expected consultations, legal costs, reviews and investigations.
Throughout the entire project:
a) What have legal costs - man hours and hourly rate been?
Total legal fees were $740 excl GST. Man hours and hourly rates are not recorded on the invoices.
b) Given the production of this sculpture has taken far longer and encountered infinitely more obstacles than ever anticipated, what have the costs of Council staff time, at all levels, been liaising with Kilwell, NZTA other companies related to the project, ie number of hours, charge-out rate and total, for each of the years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020 to date?
Council does not record staff time spent on individual projects; this is carried out as part of the usual business work of staff. However, staff involved in this project have searched their calendars and approximately 136 hours of staff time is recorded for attending meetings over these years. As advised, time spent on phone calls, correspondence etc is not recorded.
5. My experience tells me that scaffolding is very expensive to hire. What company provided the scaffolding for the construction of the Hemo sculpture?
a) Was the hireage cost paid incrementally or on dismantling of the scaffolding?
b) What was the cost of its installation?
c) What was the cost of its dismantling in 2020?
d) What was the cost of hiring the scaffolding for each of the years and part years it was required, each year listed separately?
Council does not hold this information. The scaffolding was arranged by Kilwell.
6. Production:
a) Did Kilwell agree to be paid incrementally or on completion of the project?
The contract with Kilwell included scheduled payments.
b) It appeared that there was no progress towards completion for many months. Why? Were there issues with materials? Were there any issues regarding cost and contractual obligations? If so, please explain.
Following are links to news items regarding the sculpture and the uniqueness and complexity of the build.
Council funding approval sought for iconic sculpture at Hemo Gorge - 29 November 2016
On the agenda - 6 April 2017
On the agenda - 1 August 2017
Hemo sculpture update - 14 September 2017
Local firm to manufacture Hemo sculpture - 1 December 2017
Blending engineering, art, technology and culture - 21 March 2019
Sculpture milestone for Kilwell Rotorua Lakes Council - 31 January 2020
Major milestone imminent - Te Ahi Tupua installation - 9 September 2020
Rotorua story brought to life by Rotorua business - 12 September 2020
Final Te Ahi Tupua chapter comes to a close - 27 January 2021
c) What was the total cost of each of the different materials used in the construction?
d) What were the total man hours required for the statue's production?
e) What was the total labour cost?
f) What was the cost of the reprints and test pieces?
g) Was there any / what was, the cost of "storage" of the sculpture for the time it was occupying part of the Kilwell site?
h) What was the total cost for the construction of the base, including the cost of materials?
Council does not hold this information. Questions 6(c)-(h) were the responsibility of Kilwell.
i) Given the production was fraught with delays and other issues, who has shouldered the obvious extra and probably significant cost?
Question 6(i) is declined under section 17(e) of the Act 'that the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist '
7. What were the total security costs whilst the sculpture was under construction?
Council does not hold this information. Security of the sculpture while under construction was the responsibility of Kilwell.
8. Installation:
a) What was hourly charge-out rate, hours charged and total cost of hiring the Blackhawk helicopter?
b) What was the total crane hire cost?
c) What was the cost of truck hireage during the installation phase?
d) What was the cost of the base plates?
Council does not hold this information. Questions 8(a)-(d) were the responsibility of Kilwell.
e) What was the cost of the foundation?
The foundation was the responsibility of Waka Kotahi. Your request was referred to Waka Kotahi who provided the following response:
'The foundation was approximately $35-$50k, originally for a much heavier sculpture using steel. It is hard to determine exact costs as it was built in conjunction with the rock geothermal blanket and stormwater alterations for the sub-foundation of the roundabout.'
f) What were the total installation crew costs?
As advised earlier Council does not record staff time spent on individual projects; this is carried out as part of the usual business work of staff. However, staff involved in the installation have estimated they spent (collectively) approximately 266 hours on the installation.
Council does not hold the information for any other companies involved in the installation.
g) What were the traffic management costs during installation?
$8,111.35 excl GST. This covered not only the Hemo roundabout site but also three road crossings for the helicopter transporting the sculpture.
9. Was additional earthquake and / or storm strength testing done after the sculpture was installed? If so, where and at what cost?
This testing is not required under the Building Act.
The sculpture complies with the New Zealand Building Code and is constructed to Important Level 2 (IL2) standard.
For your information attached are:
- Letter from WSP dated 20 January 2021 regarding the foundations
- Letter from WSP dated 28 January 2021 regarding change from IL1 to IL2
- Letter from Gurit regarding compliance with Building Code Clause B2 - Durability
- Structural Peer Review Report from Manktelow Consulting Engineers regarding issue of Certificate of Acceptance in terms of compliance with the New Zealand Building Code Clause B1 - Structure
- Certificate of Acceptance issued 15 February 2021
10. Given a significant amount of unexpected (and presumably uncosted) activity has occurred since the September installation and Council's cost announcement, there must be additional costs associated with this and the work that is yet to be completed that could not have been expected or adequately costed.
After the initial September installation, what were the additional costs for:
a) The "more manoeuvring than expected" of the inner helix (Group Manager, Operations, Daily Post 15/9/20)?
b) The temporary security stays "as additional support whilst it was being installed" (Chief Executive, Daily Post 14/10/20)?
c) The removal of parts temporarily to complete installation of the inner helix (Daily Post 14/10/20)?
Council does not hold this information. Installation of the sculpture was the responsibility of Kilwell.
11. What was the cost of press releases, social media and P R during the entire production and installation phases?
In particular, given there was significant publicity and promotion in the week prior to installation, what were those costs for the publicity team for this week, ie, the man-hours and charge-out rate of Council time?
Every Council project has a communications, public relations and marketing component provided by in-house communications staff. As advised earlier, Council does not record staff time spent on individual projects; this is carried out as part of the usual business work of staff. Therefore Council cannot provide an estimate of staff hours over the entire production and installation phases. The estimated time spent on the installation by the communications team is included in the approximate hours provided in question 8(f).
12. What, if any, testing was done to assess the impact of lightning strike (flammability, risk of explosion)? If this has occurred, where and by whom was the testing performed?
This is not required under the Building Act therefore Council has not undertaken any lightning strike testing.
13. Are there any "unidentified right-off" costs?
$2,000 for the four unsuccessful artists ($500 each).
14. What is the estimated cost of the work currently being done to complete the sculpture (21/1/2021)
The sculpture was completed on 25 January 2021. Lighting was installed as originally budgeted ($40,000). Stonework was undertaken around the base of the sculpture at a cost to Council of $8,955 allocated from the Arts & Culture annual budget.
15. Insurance costs:
a) What was the cost of insurance for each of the years whilst the sculpture was under construction?
Council does not hold this information. The above was the responsibility of Kilwell.
b) What has the cost of insurance been since Sept 2020?
The sculpture is insured under Council's Fine Arts Policy with a premium for the sculpture of $2,122 per annum (excl GST).
16. Can I please have a copy of the invoice (s) received from Kilwell?
Invoices attached totalling $430,860 excluding GST.
17. Into the future:
a) What will the annual cost of lighting be?
Council does not hold this information. The lighting is connected to the NZTA network.
b) What is the estimated cost of maintenance?
The sculpture is scheduled for a wash down once a year (approximately $1,000) and painting every seven years (approximately $30,000) which is allowed for in the overall public arts maintenance budget.
c) What has been budgeted for future insurance?
As 15(b) above - annual premium of $2,122 (excl GST)
Additional responses
Sent: Wednesday, 10 March 2021 1:51 pm
Subject: Further LGOIMA - Hemo sculpture
I refer to your further LGOIMA questions of 1 March 2021 regarding the Hemo Gorge sculpture and provide the following responses:
Q5 Scaffolding. Why, in the Council press release Mar 2019 was scaffolding quoted as $16,000 however in answer to the LGOIMA request the answer was that Council does not hold this information? That it was arranged by Kilwell.
Council's press release of March 2019 did not mention the cost of scaffolding. The cost of scaffolding was included in a LGOIMA response on 18 February 2019 as part of the estimate for the total project costs at that time. Council does not have the final costs of the scaffolding. This was the responsibility of Kilwell.
Q6 Production. b) Relates to production delays and the inevitable costs associated. You forwarded multiple press releases, explaining the complexity and uniqueness of the structure. 2 releases were 15 months apart and 1 was 9 months apart (which are long times for silence) but none answered the specific question, ie, were there issues with materials, costs or contractual issues? I am sure Kilwell would have kept Council updated given so much money and time was involved.
Kilwell presented to the Operations and Monitoring Committee on 7 February 2019 (in confidential) regarding increased costs, manufacturing challenges etc. This update is referred to in the March 2019 press release.
There have been no further updates to a Council meeting. Refer to a LGOIMA response of 2 November 2020 for communications between Council and Kilwell.
i) Given 'the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist', how were all the additional costs, presumably now carried by Kilwell, recorded for auditing purposes?
Council has a fixed price contract with Kilwell. Council does not need to record any other Kilwell costs for audit purposes.
Did Kilwell keep Council updated with any problems or cost issues?
See comments above.
Q8 Installation. a) Why did Council "have concerns about mention of the helicopter", when in the Mar 2019 press release it had quoted $15,000. $18,000 was hardly a large increase given the significant cost overruns that must have accrued.
Council's press release of March 2019 did not mention the cost of the helicopter. The cost of 'transport' was included in a LGOIMA response on 18 February 2019 as part of the estimate for the total project costs at that time.
The above comment was not made by Council. It was from one of the parties' external communications contractors. At the time the transportation method was not known. This was subsequently shared with the public in May 2019.
f) What was the average hourly rate of the staff included in the 266 hours spent on the project?
$47.00
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this response. Complaints can be sent by email to info@ombudsman.parliament.nz, by fax to (04) 471 2254, or by post to The Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests
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Regards
Craig TirianaKaihautū - Ohu Toihautū| Manager, Chief Executive's Office Waea: 07 348 4199 | Waea pūkoro: 027 838 9961 Īmera: craig.tiriana@rotorualc.nz | Ipurangi: rotorualakescouncil.nz Taunga: 1061 Haupapa St, Private Bag 3029, Rotorua Mail Centre, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand |