The city council is going back for another go at a decision on the performance centre option of the civic heart project.

The performance centre was dropped from the Civic Heart decision making and tucked into the next Long Term Plan discussion, when councillors decided to go ahead with the rest of the civic heart project on September 6.

The council is changing its mind on the performance centre study. Supplied photo.

Council opted to work with the private sector to deliver a new civic administration building and to undertake detailed business cases for a new library and a museum.

But the council will reconsider its position on the timing of delivering the indicative business case for the performance centre at its next meeting on Tuesday, September 20.

Instead of the possible future performance centre being built on council land at 91 Willow Street, Tuesday's resolution is for the council to develop an indicative business case in 2016/2017 for a 1000 to 1200 seat multi-purpose performance venue in the ‘city centre', subject to council signing off on the terms of reference.

It's expected to cost $100,000 to develop an indicative business case for a 1000-1200 seat performance venue.

An indicative business case will support a decision to retain or not, land for a future performance venue.

Civic Space Options project manager Adele Hadfield says the recommendation to carry out the indicative business case for a performance venue at the same time as detailed business cases for the museum and library will allow for a number of efficiencies and dependent factors to be considered.

'Council can consider the community aspirations and willingness to invest; have all the information available to know if we're reserving a spot for performance venue or not, and where; and how this might impact any other potential projects, including the new library and museum."

The Civic Space Options: Performance Venue Indicative Business Case report will be available on the TCC website three working days before the meeting.