While the Civic Theatre will open temporarily for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) later this week, it is not expected to permanently reopen until late September.
Townsville City Council has today endorsed painting the Civic Theatre as part of the monsoon repair works as a way to improve water resistance of the iconic building in the future.
Local Recovery and Resilience Group Chair Cr Les Walker said the Civic Theatre is an important landmark for the city and painting it would help protect the building.
“The Civic Theatre was designed by the then City Architect Nigel Daniels in 1973 and built in 1978 – it has been a pivotal venue in Townsville since opening,” Cr Walker said.
“Part of the repair process for the Civic Theatre has been finding some solutions for making it more resilient in the future and painting the exterior was one solution identified.
“The Theatre recently went through a major refurbishment and we are eagerly awaiting these repairs to be finalised later this year so we can open it back up to the community.”
The Civic Theatre has been closed since February after it was significantly damaged by mould and water during the unprecedented monsoon. Productions in Townsville’s 2019 Theatre Season have been forced to find alternative locations, postpone or cancel due to a lack of comparable venues.
Infrastructure Committee Chair Cr Mark Molachino said improving the resilience of Council’s venues is an important aspect of the recovery process.
“During the initial refurbishment of the Theatre we did do a clear water-resistant coating to the building however, this wasn’t able to cope with the huge amounts of water during the monsoon,” Cr Molachino said.
“This new coat is a high water-resistant paint to improve and preserve the building for the future without changing or impacting on the initial design intent of the building.”
