'In for a penny, in for a pound' on Saint Clair's conservation

The 1840s Saint Clair villa in Sloane Street has been closed since 2017 and in more recent years, Goulburn Mulwaree Council has undertaken extensive conservation work.

Its tenant, History Goulburn, has relocated nearby until the building's reopening.

Councillors heard at their meeting on Tuesday, April 9 that the $1.26 million spent to date would be wasted if the next "essential work" wasn't completed.

Corporate services director, Brendan Hollands, said it was important to address rising damp and salt attack to ensure the building didn't deteriorate further.

Stage one had tackled water ingress, ventilation, drainage, damp course injection of of lower floors and other remedial works.

Mr Hollands said this had stopped damp "to a certain extent" but there were still points further up and in the villa's higher floors that had rising damp.

Councillors awarded a $394, 509 tender to Duratec Limited to undertake the project, "plus optional additional work." It was the only tender received.

The project will be funded by a $100,000 Heritage NSW grant and $194,493 in the 2023/24 council budget. However a further $100,016 had to be found in council coffers to make up the shortfall.

Mr Hollands said "numerous savings" had been identified in the marketing, events and culture budget. More would be found and reported to councillors at a March, 2025 quarterly budget review.

But Cr Bob Kirk said councillors should have this detail upfront before making a decision. While recognising the project's need, he questioned where the savings had been made.

Mr Hollands said several events had not proceeded this year and money had built up in a reserve from cancelled fixtures during COVID. In addition, the Blues Festival was not going ahead in 2024.

Cr Andrew Banfield said the council had "gone so far now" with the work and it was important to see it through.

Deputy mayor Steve Ruddell questioned future budget commitments.

"This is a great project and I'm all for Goulburn heritage but we will have to watch the dollars in future. This is probably one project that will have to be trimmed," he said.

Mr Hollands replied that once the salt attack and rising damp was addressed, a plan would be formulated for other work on an "as needs" basis.

"The damp is doing more damage the longer we wait," he said.

"It's 12 months since the better part of the project was done and this damp just keeps whacking away."

Mr Hollands could not put a timeframe on the building's re-opening.

History Goulburn has been operating from temporary premises on the corner of Bradley and Sloane Streets, two doors away.