ONE Canberra business owner is sick of a small, fenced-off construction area that has been right outside his Civic shop for over six weeks and, he says, dramatically affected the shop’s turnover.
For the past two weeks there’s been no sign of any work being done at the site in Petrie Plaza, directly in front of discount luggage store Bags to Go, according to the managing director of the company that owns the store, Andrew Keogh.
Mr Keogh said his staff had repeatedly called him since the work began on May 24 to say the store was “dead quiet” and that they believed the fencing right outside the door, which is the responsibility of ActewAGL, was the main cause.
“I understand that works need to be done, but it’s been over six weeks,” Mr Keogh said yesterday. “Obviously they’ve got to do these works and they don’t generally come and see you [to notify you], but generally it’s a week or two and they’ve packed up and gone away.”
The shop owner said his staff had called ActewAGL many times over the weeks that the work has dragged on, and that when he recently spoke to a customer liaison manager from ActewAGL, he was referred to the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate (TAMS).
“I’ve spoken to ActewAGL and they put it back on TAMS, who want the paving done a certain way,” Mr Keogh said.
He said he had only contacted TAMS yesterday and had not received a response as of yesterday afternoon.
A spokesperson for TAMS said that ActewAGL would need to replace the surface in accordance with the city’s design standards, but that TAMS has nothing to do with the construction site at all.
“ActewAGL says they’re waiting on pavers and it could be six weeks more; meanwhile, last month we were down about 50 per cent on turnover,” Mr Keogh said.
The businessman, who opened his first Bags to Go discount luggage store in Fyshwick before expanding to other parts of Australia and also owns the Lifestyle Bags & Luggage and Trend Bags stores, said he would “absolutely” attribute most of the downturn in sales to the fencing.
“You compare it to our big Fyshwick store and we’re getting pretty good growth in that store … while this one has struggled, especially in the last month,” he said.
“I think it just blocks the direct access and if people can’t easily access you, they walk around or they don’t bother coming in. They might see you there but it’s just a little bit too hard to get to.
“With the fence directly in front of us and the whole way along our shopfront, it’s having a dramatic effect.”
UPDATE, Wednesday July 10:
ActewAGL’s general manager of network services, Robert Atkin, said the pavers had to be dug up to fix a fault in high voltage underground electrical wires on May 24, and that power was restored in less than two hours.
Mr Atkin confirmed that the replacement of the surface was delayed due to a wait for the pavers, which are expected to arrive by July 24.
“Prior to this, ActewAGL had to wait for the quote to be provided by the contractor and the landscaping specifications to be provided by the ACT Government,” he said.
He added that ActewAGL had been given the contact details of the contractor who did the original paving work by the ACT Government, and had engaged the same tradesman for the restoration job.
Mr Atkin also said that ActewAGL had kept two nearby businesses informed about the work.
“The work was unplanned. Where the work is planned, ActewAGL is required to inform customers in writing,” he said.
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