{"id":510195,"date":"2026-02-28T18:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510195\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:35:23","slug":"launceston-city-council-reveals-13-million-increase-for-princess-theatre-earl-arts-centre-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510195\/","title":{"rendered":"Launceston City Council reveals $13 million increase for Princess Theatre, Earl Arts Centre upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Launceston City Council has revealed the redevelopment of a historic theatre will cost almost 50 per cent more than expected.<\/p>\n

The upgrade to Launceston’s 115-year-old Princess Theatre and adjoining Earl Arts Centre had been expected to cost ratepayers $30 million, with $12.7 million coming from the federal government.<\/p>\n

But on Thursday, as the council announced work had started, it also said it was now forecast to cost $43 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

The current exterior of the Earl Arts Centre. (City of Launceston: Rob Burnett)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Princess Theatre was designed and built by Marino Lucas in 1911. (ABC News: Georgia Hogge)<\/p>\n

Speaking to ABC Northern Tasmania Drive, Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood defended the increase and said it was not a “cost blowout”.<\/p>\n

“I understand the commentary and the way that this could be reviewed, but I want to be really clear that it’s not cost blowouts,” Councillor Garwood said.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t even started the project yet.<\/p>\n

“This is just actually being really transparent.”\"A<\/p>\n

Matthew Garwood says the council will be “really, really up-front with our community” about any budget changes. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An artist’s impression of the revamped Earl Arts Centre auditorium. (Supplied: City of Launceston)<\/p>\n

He said the $30 million figure was “just initial scoping cost estimates”, and the council had since encountered further expenses, such as moving a power substation.<\/p>\n

Another of the city’s major projects \u2014 the redevelopment of the Albert Hall<\/a> \u2014 came in at more than $8 million over budget last year.<\/p>\n

Historic hall’s $20m modern makeover slammed as ‘not fit for purpose’<\/a><\/p>\n

A ratepayers’ group is calling for an audit of the $20 million redevelopment of Launceston’s heritage-listed Albert Hall for what it says are design flaws.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the city was getting something wrong with its cost estimates, Cr Garwood said he “appreciated the commentary”.<\/p>\n

He pointed out the Albert Hall upgrade had been impacted by the COVID pandemic, and the upcoming Princess Theatre project would be a good “temperature check” to ensure they stuck to the two-year time frame and to budget.<\/p>\n

“This is day one of the Princess Theatre with the budget that we’ve outlined today,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Any budgets that do change, whether that’s by addition or whether by subtraction, we’ll be really, really up-front with our community.”<\/p>\n

The council said the redevelopment would restore the Princess Theatre to meet “contemporary safety, accessibility and performance standards”, while the Earl Arts Centre would be fully redeveloped.<\/p>\n

Traffic changes will be in place on Earl and Brisbane Streets from this week until the project’s expected completion in 2028.<\/p>\n

\"Temporary<\/p>\n

Temporary fencing currently surrounds the Princess Theatre and Earl Arts Centre. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n

A ‘concern for ratepayers’, says Chamber of Commerce<\/p>\n

Launceston City Councillor Tim Walker warned last year<\/a> that the Princess Theatre upgrade was “no longer a $30-million project”.<\/p>\n

He did not provide specifics on how much costs had gone up as the information had been provided in a closed-door briefing, but said the council should have been more transparent with the public.<\/p>\n

Councillor warns another Tasmanian project on track for cost blowout<\/a><\/p>\n

Launceston City Council recently received backlash over its redevelopment of Albert Hall. A councillor now warns another project will cost more than planned, as he calls out a culture of “secrecy”.<\/p>\n

At the time, the council’s chief executive Sam Johnson said he would not “validate information that has been selectively leaked from operational briefings”.<\/p>\n

Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Alina Bain said the cost increase was “concerning” and it would have been helpful for the public to have been informed earlier.<\/p>\n

She said she expected ratepayers may also be concerned that, as the project was barely underway, spending could increase further.<\/p>\n

“It would be a concern for ratepayers, so it’s important that there’s some transparency so that we can retain confidence in these sorts of projects.”\"Closure<\/p>\n

The Princess Theatre and Earl Arts Centre are expected to reopen in 2028. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Launceston City Council has revealed the redevelopment of a historic theatre will cost almost 50 per cent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,138102,41262,2467,16553,255748,134,12152,225940,18404,29705,255747,16133,255749,4089],"class_list":{"0":"post-510195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-blowout","11":"tag-cost","12":"tag-council","13":"tag-development","14":"tag-earl-arts","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-launceston","17":"tag-matthew-garwood","18":"tag-mayor","19":"tag-millions","20":"tag-princess-theatre","21":"tag-redevelopment","22":"tag-reno","23":"tag-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}