Tauranga City Council are expected to commit to a major city centre redevelopment project this week, incorporating a library and a museum/cultural heritage centre as opposed to simply replacing their mould-infested offices.

The museum concept has returned to the council fold, while the nature and scale of a council-supported heritage Centre will be addressed during the process.

Tauranga City Council's current administrative headquarters. Photo: File.

The library's future, along with its associated community space, is also expected to feature heavily on the agenda, with the current facility suffering from leaks.

Baycourt's future role as a performing arts centre is also in the mix, as the venue is now considered too small for Tauranga's growing population.

A City Square ‘civic space' and its alignment with other civic activities is also included.

Adopting the ‘bigger picture' strategic case will enable the process to move on to planning the economics of the project.

The reasoning is a more dynamic civic centre that can positively influence the city's performance, improve community wellbeing and compete nationally and internationally for investment, business expansion/relocation and attractiveness to skilled workers.

Tauranga is performing better on some indicators than other cities, but all of New Zealand's provincial cities are under performing economically, as stated in the report to be discussed at Wednesday's meeting.

It also states that failing to accelerate cultural, commercial and inner city residential development is compromising the Tauranga's ability to exploit major growth opportunities for the city as well as the wider region.

Many of the city's buildings are poor quality and unattractive to the market due to earthquake-prone issues.

The council's next step is also backed by public support. Investing in Tauranga's future was a key theme of the 2015 - 2025 Long Term Plan process. Submissions on future investment in the city centre and on the waterfront were expressly sought during the process.

The museum and the new city square, incorporating waterfront access, will be included in the new civic centre from the outset, along with the library and a new emergency management centre.

The performing arts redevelopment is envisaged as part of the second ten-year plan for a later stage of the project.

The cost estimate prepared in May this year to fix the current building's leaks and mould is $22.9 million, which would provide council staff with a safe environment from a seismic and weather-tight perspective.

The estimate includes provision for renewing life expired assets, but excludes the upgrade of telephone and data systems and replacement of fixtures and fittings.

The Economic Case is timetabled to have developed funding options sometime during February 2016, with the council arriving at a preferred option by March.