The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced the government will invest $100 million to restore Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, including potentially, the adaptive re-use of the station’s famed ballroom.
The State Government previously dumped plans to redevelop the station following an international design competition. “This is not a design problem, it’s a disrepair problem,” Premier Andrews told The Age. Instead, the government will commit to repairing and repainting the building, restoring the heritage clock tower, and fixing the leaky roof as well as upgrading the station’s platforms, entrances, toilets and information displays.
The premier released a statement saying, “The previous Liberal Government held an indulgent colouring-in competition while the station fell apart, producing space-age designs but no works, no funding and no improvement. Without urgent heritage works, parts of the station will become unsafe, unusable and eventually, unsalvageable.”
The government is also considering plans to restore the Flinders Street Station Ballroom, as well as other under-used, derelict parts of the station. The government is currently working on making a business case for the ballroom’s redevelopment that could potentially see the creation of a new commercial precinct.
