The Victorian Government has announced the appointment of Kane Nicholson to deliver the brand-new $100 million Ballarat GovHub project.
The Kane Nicholson JV will work alongside architects John Wardle and engineering consultants AECOM to complete the design and build of the $100 million multi-use office development in the Northern end of Ballarat’s central business district.
The new GovHub offices will house 1000 government staff from 2021, with the two-year build set to see the tearing down of the lower hall and construction of a new multi-storey office block from mass timber.
The new GovHub will include a new glassed conservatory between the Civic Hall and the GovHub to create a welcoming microclimate, an active ground floor with spaces for commercial/retail and public use as well as a new civic plaza on Mair Street and a central plaza that will connect the GovHub, Civic Hall and the library.
The Ballarat GovHub will also feature five storeys of office space with large windows to the north and south offering lots of natural light, as well as basement carparking and end-of-trip facilities to encourage workers to walk and cycle to the hub.
Construction is forecast to commence in January 2019 and finalised by December 2020 with the first staff to move into the hub the following January. During the project’s peak construction phase, 250 people will be on-site and another 250 involved in the supply chain.
Minister for Regional Development Jaala Pulford said it was a major transformation of the city hall site which has not been filling its potential.
“The GovHub project will breathe new life into Ballarat’s CBD, diversify the range of jobs on offer and help provide career pathways for locals while attracting more people to live in regional Victoria,” the Minister said.
“We will have a total of 1000 public servants and the total cost of the project will be in the vicinity of $100 million, projects in this community do not get any bigger than this.”
More information on the project can be found here.