Determined to meet its commitment for a March 2009 opening, the Sydney-based St Hilliers have imported extra sub-contractors from the metropolitan area as it steps up its work on the former Mitre 10 and IGA car park site off Bentinck Street.

With the initial stages of the new retail precinct now rising from the massive excavation needed to provide the complex with an underground car park, residents can expect to see major advances in the coming weeks .

According to Garry McLeod, from St Hilliers, precast panels and structure steel will soon be arriving which will allow the outside shell of the development to be constructed.

“Then we’ll start to see some real progress,” he said yesterday.

“So far we are happy with the way things are going.

“More than 55,000 cubic metres of soil has been removed from the site to make way for the underground car park.”

Mr McLeod said it has been taken to a site on the outskirts of Bathurst to be used as a platform for another proposed development.

He said work is continuing as fast a pace as is possible with suspended form work slabs being put in place for the second level of car parking with entry from Bentinck Street.

“This will be followed by the retail shopping floor which will also be home to Woolworths,” Mr McLeod said.

“We’re throwing extra resources into the project and have had to look to out-of-town subcontractors with the necessary manpower to comply with our tight construction program.

“It’s also worth noting we are getting through a substantial amount of work on the former Carrington Square to modify it in order to marry it into the new area of construction at its rear.”

When completed the new Bathurst Marketplace will include up to 40 specialist shops, as well as Woolworths with 11,500 square metres of floor space.