Hepburn Shire Council's Hepburn Hub at The Rex project has faced ongoing delays and a budget blowout during the last few years, with the project being investigated by the Local Government Inspectorate.

Last year, council awarded a new contract for the main construction works at its September council meeting.

At this meeting, council endorsed the amended project budget of $7.130 million from the previously budgeted $6.390 million.

At this time it was anticipated that works would be completed by June 14, 2021.

Earlier this year Council announced construction works would be due to start in February and end in late June - however, there has been a further delay and works are yet to commence.

According to a council report prepared for the council's upcoming meeting, the builder raised "a number of queries regarding the existing conditions".

According to the report, the builder has claimed "the condition of the site is materially different to one inspected by them during the tender period due to incomplete and defective base building conditions".

The issues are being investigated "to determine if further works are required or if the builder should have been aware of them before submitting their tender from their own site investigations", it reads.

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Given the delayed commencement of works it is more likely The Rex will be completed by August 2021.

The budget remains unchanged, with no further financial variations approved.

The renovation of The Rex building on Vincent Street will house council offices, a library, co-working space, customer service desk and community auditorium.

On Tuesday night, the report will be presented to council to advise the delay in the commencement of construction works.

"This is not what we were hoping for, but we are working really hard to address some of the building issues that have prevented us from starting works," the council posted on social media.

"Hang in there, this is a great project and we look forward to building works starting. We'll keep you posted."

The meeting will be streamed online and can be viewed from 6pm on the Hepburn Shire Council Facebook page.

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