Adapting industrial heritage sites
Discover how adaptive reuse of industrial heritage sites can breathe new life into our cities and towns.
- Research report
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What are the opportunities for our industrial heritage? How can reusing these fascinating places revive our cities and towns? What roles might they play in twenty-first-century Victoria?
At the Heritage Council of Victoria, we value our industrial past. It links us to our history. It can shape our cities and rural areas in the future.
We present 12 case studies and an issues paper to explore the challenges and opportunities for our industrial heritage. They aim to inspire us to better use the state's industrial heritage.
Case studies
Bass Coast Rail Trail
The Bass Coast rail trail is one of a series of rail trails. They reuse old railway corridors as linear recreational parks. Photo © Rial Trails Australia
The Boatbuilders Yard
The Boatbuilder Yard is a cafe and restaurant in Cargo Shed 4, South Wharf Melbourne. (Photo © Greg Elms)
Carriageworks
Carriageworks is a contemporary arts centre for theatre, dance and acrobatics. It is in the former Eveleigh Carriage Workshop, next to Sydney’s main rail corridor. Photo © Michael Nicholson
Cockatoo Island
Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour. It was a fishing base for Indigenous people, a penal establishment, a reform school and shipbuilding yards. Photo © Sarah Nguyen
Flourmill Studios
Flourmill Studios is a development of 47 strata studios in the 19th-century Crago Flour Mill in Newtown, Sydney. It is next to the railway line and near the station, an area with a strong industrial past. Photo © Steve Beck
Canberra Glassworks
Canberra Glassworks gives glass artists a place to create high-quality, commissioned art. It also supports exhibition works. It is in the former Kingston Power House. Photo © Tyrone Brannigan
New Farm, Teneriffe and Newstead
In the 1990s, these Brisbane suburbs began to change. This was due to the Urban Renewal Taskforce. It aimed to revitalise 730 hectares of former industrial land. Photo © John Oxley Library
Banbury Village
Banbury Village is a large development in Footscray. It has 55 apartments and townhouses. It is on the site of the Olympic Tyre Factory. Photo © James Newman
Paddington Reservoir Gardens
Paddington Reservoir Gardens is an urban park. It lets the public enjoy and explore a ruined, former reservoir. Photo © Brett Boardman
River Studio
River Studios is in a large warehouse on the Maribyrnong River in West Melbourne. It has 62 studios for 80 artists. Photo © Andrew Wuttke
1 Fennell Street
This project redevelops the old Red Tulip Easter egg factory in Port Melbourne. It has nine tenancies of various sizes, with Globe International as the anchor tenant. Photo © Lisbeth Grosman
School of Architecture and Design
The University of Tasmania's School of Architecture and Design is in a 1950s diesel workshop at the Inveresk Railyards in Launceston. Photo © Patrick Rodriguez
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