The community has been actively involved in the design of a replacement and now expressions of interest are about to be invited for the design of a new facility. It follows community consultation and development of a design brief on what will best suit their needs.

The hall was built in 1957 through local fundraising, donations of timber and many hours of hard work and in November 2017 the community celebrated the hall's 60 years.

The building provided an important gathering point for the community and after its loss in the bushfires, Merimbula Rotary stepped in to build a pavilion with power, water and a barbecue to fill the gap.

While the loss of the old hall was distressing, it provided an opportunity to look at what was needed and how a structure might be created that would provide the region with a point of reference and a place marker to last well into the future, Gemma Gill, council's infrastructure and services manager, said.

The new hall will be located on land adjacent to the site of the original hall.

The proposed site was the previously owned by the Catholic Church and was offered to the community for $88,000. This land has been acquired by council on behalf of the community and has the advantage of being a more accessible location, and therefore less costly for construction.

"The new hall will provide the Kiah community with a place for gathering, celebration and commemoration. It will have a multi-functional program allowing a wide range of activities to take place," Ms Gill said.

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"The hall will also function as a refuge post for future natural disasters (not a fire shelter) and will be provided with facility and capacity to accommodate the emergency needs of such events," Ms Gill added.

Council engaged architectural design consultant, Tim Lee to work with the project team and community stakeholders through each stage of the project to rebuild.

Now that the community consultation to formalise a design brief is complete, the project starts the design phase. The initial stage is an expression of interest for registered architectural firms and building designers to submit their interest and demonstrate their ability to deliver on the design brief.

Expressions of interest for the design of both the Kiah and Wandella Halls will go to the open market by October 29.

Once a design team is awarded a contract, a separate tender for construction will go to market.

Kiah resident Clare McMahon has been involved from the start.

Ms McMahon said at first there was concern that building to meet BAL (Bushfire Attack Level) ratings was going to make the project prohibitively expensive. The community had started fundraising and managed to raise $44,000 but even coupled with the insurance money for the old hall, it was never going to be sufficient.

Then in November 2020 there was a funding announcement for three halls in the shire, destroyed by bushfires.

"Andrew Constance came down and, God bless him, said there was $3m for the three halls that had burnt down. I could have cried, because this will allow us to build it," Ms McMahon said.

However, there is another issue to be resolved and that is the access between the hall and the Princes Highway. Kiah Hall Road is a difficult intersection with limited views due to the bends in the highway.

Kiah Hall Road - which was part of the old highway - is also home to the Kiah Rural Fire Service.

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"When the fire truck goes out loaded with water, it's very slow and that makes it difficult particularly when turning north (turning right)," Ms McMahon said.

Council and the Kiah community are working together to support a proposal to Transport for NSW to improve safety at the intersection, something expected to happen concurrently with the hall's design and construction.

Originally the cost of rebuilding Kiah Hall was listed in the current budget at a total cost of $736,575, made up of $335,794 from grant income and $427,781 from council's own reserves but now has a top up.

In addition to the $44,000 raised by the community and $88,000 paid for the land from insurance money there is the funding announced by Mr Constance last year.

The Kiah and Wandella Halls will share $1.82m of the $3m announced, provided under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF, co-funded by the NSW and Australian governments).

"The funding timeframe stipulates this project must be completed by June 30, 2023. Where possible council is endeavouring to expediate this project for the Kiah community," Ms Gill said.