Hume City Council last night endorsed draft concept plans for State 1 of the Sunbury Community Arts and Cultural Precinct at Jacksons Hill. The draft concept plans are now available for community feedback until 15 May.
Stage 1 of the project involves a large parcel of land with two buildings – Building 22 the former Female Refractory and Building 24.
Hume City Mayor, Naim Kurt, said the draft concept plans had been heavily influenced by the community. “We undertook broad community consultation on the project in October last year, and workshops with key groups in February and March this year,” he said.
“The draft concept plans focus on creating a precinct that can be enjoyed and regularly accessed by the community and visitors, as well as providing fixed and flexible spaces to support our local arts groups and the arts community more broadly.
“People will be able to visit the Stage 1 precinct and enjoy things like exhibitions, performances, community events, outdoor art, and a new open space area. The plans also include a café/ kiosk and small art retail shop.
“The draft plans propose to upgrade Building 24 for woodworkers and manual makers with large equipment. Building 22 would house a range of anchor tenants like the Boiler House Theatre, Pottery group, the Sunbury Arts Society and Wurrundjeri Group, as well as provide small to medium spaces for individual artists, co-working and meeting rooms.
“Over the next two weeks we want to check-in with the community and with key groups to get their thoughts on the draft concept plans before progressing to the next stage of detailed design.
“This project has been in the making for a long time and we are so excited to see it moving forward. Our plan is to get Stage 1 of the precinct up and running and have community, visitors, key groups and artists enjoying and using this new facility by mid-2025.”
Stage 1 of the project has been made possible by Council signing a long-term lease with the State Government in October 2022 for Lot C housing buildings 22 and 24. Future stages of the project, which involve the original site ear-marked for arts and cultural precinct including buildings 18-21, are dependent on the Stage Government being able to officially transfer the land and buildings over to Council and future funding.
