CIVIL contractors will probably need to lay out key Bendigo athletes' village trunk services by February 2024 to keep up with an ever-constricting Commonwealth Games timeline.
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Details in the fine-print of newly released tender documents give a sense of the task ahead for whichever contractors get the nod for a project coming together in half the time normally allocated to international sporting events.
Civil contractors will start work this June and must hit deadlines early next year despite open questions, right now, about what buildings will rise above their work.
Organisers are still working on masterplans for the site in Osborne Street, Flora Hill with three years and counting until athletes and the world's media arrive.
Civil contractors vying for contracts are being told they will probably have to hit a host of major deadlines in February.
There is only a limited room for error.
Teams working on estimated 212 permanent townhouses and 46 apartments must start in early 2024.
So any delays out of the gate could ratchet up pressure crews that follow.
The civil contractors who will break ground on Bendigo's athletes village might be doing everything from demolition and clearing to bulk earthworks, drainage, sewers, water and power installation.
They could also be tasked with building and upgrading roadways into and through the site.
The state government has not confirmed exactly what would happen if deadlines are missed, though organisers want villages finished six months before the games kick off, giving them some leeway for what could be complex projects.
No-one wants a repeat of the embarrassing last minute rushes of some past Commonwealth and Olympic games, when the world's media has reported on athletes arriving even as workers scurry around villages.
"We have a strong record of working collaboratively with the construction sector to deliver major infrastructure projects and we will work towards completing the [Bendigo] games village by 2025," a government spokesperson said.
Victoria agreed to take on 2026's games last year after the chaos caused by South Africa losing its rights to host 2022's event.
That country's city Durban had a series of missed deadlines and financial difficulties.
England fast-tracked its Birmingham event by four years to 2022, leaving the Commonwealth Games foundation at risk of not being able to run a 2026 event.
Victoria was a logical choice given it had hosted Melbourne's successful 2006 games and had a proven record with other major sporting events.
But the government was reluctant to house a second games in Melbourne and instead opted for a first-ever games hosted by regional cities including Bendigo.
Other towns that need athletes' villages are Morwell, Ballarat and Geelong.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
