Clunes, Creswick and Talbot have been chosen for the Renew Australia concept, which its creative director, Marcus Westbury, said was simple – turning a liability into an asset.

“It’s a good starting point to get new local enterprises up and running,” Mr Westbury said.

The process takes empty shops, buildings or spaces and turns them into exhibition spaces or spaces for small products and businesses to be launched.

Since communication began between Renew Australia and the Hepburn Shire Council, Mr Westbury has visited the region three times to see how it would work.

Mr Westbury said Hepburn Shire initiated contact with Renew Australia, interested in what was happening elsewhere.

“All three towns had the same challenge with vacant spaces, so they started talking to us.”

The first renew program, Renew Newcastle, began in 2008 when Mr Westbury was disheartened by the amount of empty buildings he was seeing in the city.

Since the program began, it has activated 150 empty buildings and within two years activated 70 new businesses in Newcastle.

“We had a Renew Australia national conference in Newcastle in March and Ballarat sent more people to the conference than any other region in Australia,” he said.

“There’s a lot of interest coming from the area.”

He said the project was not just a business incubation program, but also allowed creative displays. 

He said the project could help to build the economy by starting new businesses, give more people a reason to visit the area and give artists and other creations exposure they wouldn’t usually have.

Other towns inspired by Newcastle and taking on similar projects include Adelaide, Townsville, Geelong and Paramatta.

Increasing local employment

HEPBURN towns are preparing to go through a revitalisation to fill empty buildings, joining successful projects in other regional cities through Renew Australia.

Hepburn Shire Creswick ward councillor Don Henderson said it could be the catalyst to reinvigorate businesses and arts in the region.

“There are businesses that haven’t got off the ground because they don’t know where to go. This will give them a place,” Cr Henderson said. 

Creswick, Clunes and Talbot will have community consultation and information sessions today to work out the logistics of how the renew project will work.

Cameron Ward councillor Neil Newitt, from Clunes, said it was the beginning phase of the project, with the hope of finding spaces available through community consultation. 

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to connect businesses who previously haven’t been able to get off the ground with these empty spaces,” Cr Newitt said.

He said vacant buildings were a major problem in Clunes a few years ago and continued to be a concern today. 

“Hopefully, it will generate further local employment and growth.”

Cr Newitt said the logistics of how Renew Australia would work were still under discussion, including whether the spaces would be free or come at a cost, as well as time limits for how long the spaces would be available. 

Cr Henderson said Creswick could often be considered a suburb of Ballarat, rather than a town in Hepburn.

“There are lots of people in Creswick who work in Ballarat and then, because they’re in Ballarat, they shop there too,” he said.

“Creswick needs to find a niche market.

“In the past few years, we’ve had a cheese shop, a chocolate shop and a French bakery open, which have all done very well.

“People now come from Ballarat and Daylesford to come to a nice quiet cafe in Creswick.”