We are excited to share with you a proposed new vision for Burnie's cultural precinct.
In early 2021, Council announced a change in direction for Burnie’s cultural precinct – where the city’s art gallery and museum would combine with its function centre to create a new cultural space.
This is not just a cosmetic refurbishment of the Burnie Arts & Function Centre, but a new vision and model for culture and creativity in our city.
The first round of community consultation was held in July 2021. A draft business case was developed (the Burnie Cultural Centre Draft Report) which was made available for community consultation in the form of a survey. This focussed on the new vision we wish to create and recommended key concepts to inform the redevelopment of the Burnie Arts and Function Centre and the operations of the newly created centre.
There were 35 formal submissions received from individuals and community groups both within Burnie and from the region generally.
All councillors were provided with and reviewed the full submissions and discussed the community’s feedback at a workshop conducted on 17 August 2021.
As a consequence a number of amendments were made to the draft Report. These changes were made to acknowledge Burnie’s rich artistic and cultural history; the contribution made by our many volunteers; and a commitment to maintaining the status of a regional art gallery in the future redevelopment and operation of the new Cultural Centre.
The final change was associated with the financial information contained in the draft report. While this information was the consultant’s view of what the community investment might likely be, it was not designed to be a reflection of the budget that the Council will determine at the appropriate time. The report was subsequently amended to commit to the Burnie community that upon the development of the new Cultural Centre budget in March 2022, that the budget will be released for community consultation.
The amended Burnie Cultural Centre Draft Report (Hirst Project Report) went before Council’s August meeting for consideration and was endorsed by the Council.
The Burnie Cultural Centre Report (revised and adopted) is now available.
An analysis of the thematic issues raised in the submissions can be found in the Minutes of the August Council Meeting.
Council Meeting Minutes - 24 August 2021
Consideration of Community Feedback and Endorsement of Hirst Project Report - pg 181
Council have committed to ongoing consultation with the whole community in the redevelopment of the cultural centre and the development and implementation of a cultural strategy for Burnie.
The Council adopted the vision for the experience it wishes to deliver as part of the new Cultural Centre, at its meeting held in August 2021.
The Business Case has been provided to the Australian Government to enable the $5 million grant funding to be repurposed to the new project. While the Australian Government have agreed in principle to their support in reallocating the funding, they are awaiting a determination by the Tasmanian Government as to whether the State will contribute funding to the project also. A budget funding submission has been provided to the Tasmanian Government seeking an equivalent commitment of $5 million, that will enable the majority of the precinct works to occur in one phase, rather than needing to stagger implementation as funding is made available.
A key milestone has now been achieved with the appointment of Xsquared as the Architect the Council will partner with, in order to provide architectural designs.
A Steering Committee comprised of key Council officers in addition to two community members, Tich Ferencz and Eleanor Austin has been developed. Tich and Eleanor will be a conduit for the community to express their views and ideas throughout this process to ensure that the designs which will soon commence, represent community expectations where possible, in order to feed this into the design brief which is the preliminary step before designs are developed.
The timeframe for the project has been reviewed upon completion of this key milestone. The timeframe is shown below and represents that the next key milestone will be full public consultation with the Burnie community with regard to draft architectural designs.
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The Vision - First round of consultation ends
31 July 2021 |
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Council considered Consultation Feedback and adopted Final Report
Workshop and Council Meeting August 2021 |
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Architectural Concept and Design - appointment of Xsquared Architects
January 2022 |
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Second Round of Community Consultation - Architectural Design
planned May/Jun 2022 |
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Construction Tender and Appointment of Contractor
planned Sep/Oct 2022 |
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Construction - Commencement through to Completion
planned January to November 2023 |
The key milestones will be updated as the project progresses.