A refurbished office block at the Ballarat Station which has sat vacant for more than three years has finally been given a new lease on life after being taken over by a rail training company.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The nationally accredited Centre for Excellence in Rail Training finalised the lease for the space which sits alongside platform two at the beginning of December, with the aim of beginning operations in late January.
The facility had received a $1.25 million makeover from the state government and VicTrack to in 2014 to reinstate the original portico, external and internal rendering and painting, carpentry, flooring, electrical and other works.
CERT state manager Andrew Blower said the training company which is based in Brooklyn was attracted to Ballarat due to the volume of rail infrastructure being built throughout central and western Victoria.
He said Ballarat and nearby towns such as Beaufort and Maryborough had a long history of producing rail workers which was being revitalised.
Related coverage
“With the major projects like the Murray Basin Rail Project and the Ballarat Line Upgrade we’ve seen a massive jump in demand,” Mr Blower said. “We’ve always been pretty big in Ballarat and we’re starting to get a lot of the old heads back into the industry which has been good, but at the moment there’s just not enough people to meet industry’s demand.”
The organisation which provides training for track labourers and protection officers through to track inspectors expects to see up to 3000 students come through the Ballarat facility each year, employing six full time staff members.
Most CERT courses run for just one day, but all workers operating on track are required to undergo compulsory training every two years.
Colliers International sales and leasing assistant Lauchlan Waddell said the lease showed the strength of the rail sector in western Victoria as well as the demand for office space in Ballarat.
The lease comes as the state government ramps up work on the Ballarat Station Precinct development, which will see the entire Lydiard Street North site transformed.
Developer Pellicano officially began works on the multi-storey car park near Nolan Street in November, which is anticipated to be completed by mid-2018.
The nearby goods shed is set to house retail and hospitality outlets as well as a conference centre.