Tamworth Regional Council will release all documents pertaining to asbestos issues with Ray Walsh House, according to General Manager Paul Bennett.
The iconic former offices of TRC have been closed since asbestos was discovered in the building, with it looking increasingly likely the building will be demolished or sold rather than renovated.
“On the 28th of May this year, Council resolved to release all documents associated with Ray Walsh House remediation for public scrutiny,” Bennett said, speaking at an event on Monday.
“Today, that resolution will be actioned.”
Bennett said Council will release “about 60” documents relating to Ray Walsh House, on a brand new Council website page, and will include Council reports, external expert reports, and even internal emails.
“The documents are all freely available,” Bennett said, but went on to say that some have been redacted in whole or in part.
“In some instances, that’s because there’s commercial-in-confidence information relating to third parties.”
Others have been entirely redacted, but posted “to demonstrate they exist”, but would be available for in-person viewing at Council premises.
“We just cannot publish them electronically.”
Bennett stated that the reason the documents have been released was because “there’s been a lot of speculation, around what the asbestos is and how it was dealt with.”
The next steps, Bennett said, were following the steps outlined in 28 May Council resolution.
“Number one is to not remediate the building at this stage for reoccupation by staff.
“The second was the release of these documents, and the third part is to look for alternative accommodation in the CBD.”
Council is looking at options to reunite council staff in one space, Bennett said, with a number of organisations” having approached Council with offers, but will be taking some time.
While Bennett did not fully rule out refurbishing Ray Walsh House, the report of May 28 stated that the best option is likely.
Bennet later clarified that the initial refurbishment undertaken in 2023 was taken on the advice of NSW Public works, based on experience on asbestos remediation in other buildings like hospitals and schools.
Bennett estimated that “$4-5 million” was saved undertaking the initial $900,000 works last year, as opposed to completely remediating or demolishing the building all at once.
Bennett stated that the reason for the evacuation of the building was not due to asbestos, but because the air conditioning system failed.
Asbestos was known to be in Ray Walsh House, when part of the ceiling collapsed into occupied spaces, but was not considered a problem.
However, when the air conditioning system failed on several floors, it was found that it could not be repaired without disturbing the asbestos, and without air conditioning, Ray Walsh House was not fit for purpose.
Bennett said that the ceiling collapse created “some angst in the workplace”.
“But that’s why we brought in expert hygienists to demonstrate to staff it was still safe to occupy the building.”
“It was only when the air conditioning failed that we had to take drastic steps to take staff out of the building.”
Council is still identifying options for the Ray Walsh site, but notes that it is in a high-value location that developers or investors would want to exploit.
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