THIS year will see significant progress made on the project to establish the Central Tablelands Collections Facility in Bathurst.
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With storage for cultural items fast filling up in Bathurst and, in some cases being basic, the need arose to have a dedicated facility to house all these items.
It was announced in January last year that Bathurst would become home to the Central Tablelands Collections Facility, a $4.6 million building that would service the whole region.
It would be jointly funded by the NSW Government and Bathurst Regional Council, each contributing $2.6 million.
A month later, the site for the facility was confirmed as a greenfield site in Leena Street, across from Charles Sturt University.
Council has since called for expressions of interest from suitably qualified companies to design and build the facility.
Director of Cultural and Community Services, Alan Cattermole, said five had put in expressions of interest, with these being a mix of local and national parties.
Three of those companies impressed council and were invited to submit tenders for the project.
"It's a fairly unique build so we're looking for a set of skills that don't normally appear in the Bathurst market," Mr Cattermole said.
The tender is expected to be awarded early this year, potentially as soon as one of council's February meetings.
The timeline for the project is up in the air, but Mr Cattermole said it will likely be late this year that construction gets under way.
It is anticipated to take around 10 months to build.
The facility would then open for use in 2021.
Although the facility will be managed by Bathurst council's Cultural and Community Services department, its storage space will be shared with museums from around the region.
In addition to storage, the facility will also offer a virtual classroom and learning facility that can be used by regional NSW, and allow for collections management services to be undertaken.
