Moreland City Council will celebrate the opening of the state-of-the-art Glenroy Community Hub at the Glenroy Festival on Sunday 15 May.
The $30.1 million hub is Moreland’s newest, largest and most environmentally sustainable community centre, featuring a library, customer service centre, children’s centre, and a range of community services, along with new public art and a public garden.
Moreland Mayor Mark Riley will officially open the Hub with a speech at 12pm, following a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony. Performances, stalls, workshops and more will take place from 11am until 3pm.
Cr Riley said that everything about the building has been designed for the community.
“You can borrow a library book, drop your child at childcare, access healthcare and more — all in one beautifully designed, zero energy building,” Cr Riley said.
“We are really proud of our collaboration with DesignInc and Building Engineering to lead the way in environmental design standards for public buildings in Australia. The Glenroy Community Hub is designed for today and for future generations to come.”
Council’s investment in the hub was supported by the Victorian Government through a low interest loan, a $1.6 million grant towards the children’s centre and a $750,000 contribution towards the new library.
Moreland residents can find out more about the hub’s services and opening hours on the .
About Glenroy Community Hub
With the Glenroy Library at its heart, the Hub is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for residents to access a range of Council and community-based services in Moreland’s north, including:
- A Council Customer Service Centre
- Glenroy Hub Children’s Centre
- Maternal and Child Health Centre
- A suite of community health services run by cohealth
- Glenroy Memorial Kindergarten
- Glenroy Neighbourhood Learning Centre
- Community rooms for hire
- A quiet room, which offers a calm environment for those seeking refuge from sensory overload
- A space allocated for a future social enterprise takeaway café
Built to the highest environmental design standards, the Hub is Australia’s first Passive House Certified building, demonstrating Council’s commitment to act on climate
change. It is also designed for Passive House certification and the Living Building Challenge — the most rigorous benchmark of sustainability in the built environment.
The site on Wheatsheaf Road holds historical and sentimental significance to the Glenroy community, with many attending Glenroy Primary School when it was in operation from 1908 to 2011.
The old red brick school building was incorporated into the design of the Hub’s new youth space as a nod to this history.
The Hub generates 20% more power than it consumes, making it a truly “living building”.
More than just books, the new Glenroy Library boasts twice the space as its original home and provides access to a creative-maker space; digital recording studio and sound-proof jam room; dedicated youth zone with lounge, screen games pod and youth collection; as well as study spaces and computers.
A landscaped rain garden sits alongside the adjoining Bridget Shortell Reserve, where patrons can access undercover bike parking, electric car charging stations and plenty of outdoor seating.
Three pieces of public art have been commissioned for the Hub. A rammed earth and bluestone sculpture by Isadora Vaughn, a mural titled Cultural Reflections – Systems of Sustainability #2 by Barkindji artist Kent Morris, and a video and mixed media piece by Ali Sanderson and Starlie Geikie to be installed later in the year.
