Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station, 101 years old, but now time to realise the opportunity hidden behind the façade
15 November 2011
The Victorian Government has committed to a $1 million prize pool for an international design competition to help rejuvenate and restore Flinders Street Station. The Government will be looking for the best ideas from around the world to re-energise the station and its surrounds while making sure integral heritage features are maintained.
The National Trust is delighted with this announcement which sees the government act on a key heritage election promise, and on an issue that the Trust has campaigned on over many years. Large areas of the administration building are in a dreadful condition and government investment in this public asset is long overdue. There have been design competitions in the past that have been unrealised, and our preference still remains that the administration building be restored and reused in a mixture of ways to maximise community and business benefits afforded by the scale and location of the building. However we also acknowledge that an overall vision for better connecting the station to the public realm and civic precincts can take the station to another level as Melbourne’s busiest interchange. The grand old lady is 101 years old and a major investment is clealry needed to take her into the next 100 years.
Go to Major Projects Victoria website.
13 October 2010
Liberals make commitment to restoring Flinders Street Station building to former glory. But what is the 'design competition'?
A new book on Flinders Street Station by Jenny Davies, Beyond the Façade
highlights the remarkable social, commercial and architectural history of the station. The building was voted one of the most important heritage places in Victoria by the people of Victoria in the National Trust’s heritage icons awards in 2008.
Flinders Street Station, designed by railway architect James Fawcett in partnership with railway engineer H P C Ashworth in 1899, but not completed until 1910, is of national significance and is probably Victoria’s most recognizable heritage building. Integral to the station was the Victorian Railways Institute (VRI), officially opened on 22 January 2010, to cater for the railway workers educational and recreational needs.
The formation of the VRI was partly a response to the railway strikes of 1903, and was designed to engender stability, loyalty and to raise morale. The top floor of the building was especially constructed for the VRI’s needs, with lecture hall (now known as the ballroom), classrooms, gymnasium, billiard room, games room, reading room and reference library. The VRI relocated from the building in 1986.
However, this celebrated and symbolic gateway to the city, where millions have ‘met under the clocks’ and which was a work and social hub for thousands of railway employees, hides a sorry tale internally of physical neglect by its owner, the State government. Whilst two-thirds of the building is occupied and maintained by lessee Metro Trains, one-third amounting to hundred of square metres of prime city centre space, is abandoned and neglected. This includes the largest space in the building, the ballroom, and literally dozens of rooms and spaces of varying sizes which if repaired and restored would be eminently suitable and lettable for small businesses, enterprise start-ups, or a multitude of creative community uses.
In 2005 The Department of Infrastructure asked the Committee for Melbourne to prepare a business case for community use of the vacant spaces. The report estimated $10 million was needed for base building repair costs. In 2010 that figure has inevitably risen.. The Business Case guiding principles were to “halt the continued deterioration in one of Melbourne’s most culturally significant buildings and to re-awaken interest not just in the façade but in its heart.” The report made clear that returning the building to an important social hub for whatever purpose would, not unexpectedly, need subsidy.
The redundant section of the station building is a prime example of the opportunity for investing in re-use of historic places. Located as it is at a transport hub, the opportunities presented for re-use are clear if sufficient leadership and commitment is provided to determine a viable future by its owner, the State government. The relatively modest initial investment required to provide such an iconic city centre space for business start up and community activity in the unused space at Flinders Street would repay itself handsomely in future years.
On its 100th anniversary it is now time for the government to seriously engage in the future of this amazing building, to undertake urgent repair works to the neglected one-third of the building, and explore a variety of uses for the spaces available. Pure arts, creative industries incubator, community and not-for-profit uses have all been discussed, but the building does not need to be exclusive to any of those user groups to be viable. The Business Case was not the first to point out the potential for the larger spaces to be integral to Melbourne’s vibrant festival calendar, providing sufficient space to house music, performance and exhibitions with ease.
There has been a suggestion around for some time about conversion of the station to hotel use. This sort of conversion has been successfully realised at other places around the world, however a hotel operator would very likely require most if not all of the building, which would mean finding a new home for Metro Trains. Alterations to the building would require investment on an enormous scale and much intervention into the fabric. The financial risks of such are project are enormous and the lead times very long. In the meantime the building would continue to suffer.
The Business Case stated “There would appear to be a case for taking the decision to complete the basic capital work common to all options while a process to decide the management model is undertaken.”
National Trust CEO Martin Purslow said “In this 100th Year as one of our major socially significant heritage buildings, the National Trust calls on the government to commit funding for the urgent restoration of the unused parts of this building to allow a return of public access to the building. The long term social return gained by reactivating this building far outweigh the costs of restoration and will put Flinders Street Station back at the heart of the community, where it belongs.”
With new Transport Minister Martin Pakula now in position, the Trust believes that the government should address the real opportunity on offer with the future of the station building.
“The Trust urges the government to establish the base repair costs for the dilapidated parts of the building to returning it to a suitable public use and to commit to securing the necessary funding in this years budget.”
20 January 2010
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