When walking Ballarat’s streets next year, you might be forgiven for thinking you were in metropolitan Melbourne.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tall buildings will start towering over some of our most recognisable landmarks, and roads will suddenly look unfamiliar, as fundamental changes are made to the way we move around our city.
For Ballarat, 2019 will be a year of unprecedented construction and investment.
In the first week of the new year, construction will begin on a major upgrade along Mair Street, which will improve cycling connections and change a number of intersections along the shopping strip.
The first stage of the $7 million upgrade, which will begin on January 7, will include installation of dual lanes between Dawson Street North and Armstrong Street, as well as traffic lights at the Dawson Street intersection, replacing a roundabout.
IS BALLARAT FACING A SKILLS SHORTAGE?
Ballarat is facing a dearth of talent as it grapples with an unprecedented construction period.
With more than a billion dollars invested in the region’s projects for 2019 – across transport, health, and energy – there are concerns about workforce capability.
Committee For Ballarat CEO Melanie Robertson said Ballarat was looking down the barrel of a “skills shortage” which will mean builds come at a premium, magnified by a population increases “ahead of all predictions”.
“Due to population growth, there’s additional construction of housing developments. That’s going to require a significant workforce as well, if you’re looking at what’s being sold and subdivided out to the west of Ballarat,” she said.
“We want to have a look at that from a glass half full approach. The population growth is tremendous for youth career pathways, and the range of skills which will come into and be retained in the region.
“We can’t afford, as a region, labour costs to be significantly high; it impacts on housing affordability and a whole range of social issues.”
Renewable energy is one specific sector which will need a specialised and broad workforce, with more than 300 wind turbines to be built within a 30 minute drive of Ballarat in the next year.
Ms Robertson said while tertiary institutions in Ballarat have done “some work” around structuring renewable energy-related courses and degrees, it isn’t going to be enough.
“That’s been very much on a ‘business as usual’ basis, not for a very significant infrastructure boom and the current changing of skill-sets to renewable energy,” Ms Robertson said.
“One piece of work is actually analysing our region and what the infrastructure build is, what capacity do we have? But as far as the region goes, is our workforce into the Western suburbs of Melbourne as well?”
State government projects are required to develop skills and hire of local workers through the ‘Local Jobs First – Victorian Industry Public Participation Policy’, which gives higher weight to local builders during the tender process.
We have a significant skills shortage and we’re not matching up at the moment, and there’s going to be increased pressures added on.
- Committee For Ballarat CEO Melanie Robertson
Regional Rail Revival Director Mark Havryluk said for the Ballarat Line Upgrade was “continuing to identify opportunities to employ local people and local contractors”.
"Some examples of this include a Ballan safety fence supplier, and a Gordon-based construction contractor undertaking earthworks on the project,” he said.
WHAT OTHER PROJECTS ARE STARTING NEXT YEAR?
GovHub, the mammoth $100 million building to house 1,000 public servants just behind Civic Hall, is also set to get under way in January.
Workers from departments of Education and Training, Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, and Regional Roads Victoria will move into the glassy architectural building after its completed at the end of 2020.
Ballarat-based MP Jaala Pulford said there are “shovels in the ground right across our great City” to complete the biggest set of infrastructure works in Ballarat’s history.
“Ballarat is experiencing a construction blitz and this means more jobs for locals and an even better, more vibrant city,” Ms Pulford said.
“We’re really proud to back transformational projects in our City - whether it be bringing public service jobs to Ballarat, or transforming Ballarat Station, delivering the Ballarat Line Upgrade or record funding for Ballarat Hospital – we’re getting it done.”
While the focus might be on the road and rail upgrades, projects further afield are ensuring victoria has enough power to sustain the population and creating employment opportunities..
Windfarms at Lal Lal, Moorabool and Stockyard Hill are less than 40 kilometres away from the CBD, but will require a significant workforce during construction of the total 316 turbines.
The Ballarat Line Upgrade will cause commuters a few headaches before it is completed at the end of next year. Passing loops for trains will be created at Ballan and Millbrook, with new station platforms and pedestrian links build at Wendouree, Ballan and Bacchus Marsh.
Regional Rail Revival director Mark Havryluk said the project was a “massive investment of more than half-a-billion-dollars” state and federal governments, and would provide “additional and more reliable services that are much needed for Ballarat's growing population”.
In another win for commuters, the V/Line car park at the Ballarat Station will be opened to the public early next year, with the broader redevelopment of the precinct to be completed by 2020.
The station will have a new regional bus interchange, a Quest Hotel and the goods shed will be transformed.
“We’re really proud to back transformational projects in our City - whether it be bringing public service jobs to Ballarat, or transforming Ballarat Station, delivering the Ballarat Line Upgrade or record funding for Ballarat Hospital – we’re getting it done,” Ms Pulford said.
WHAT WILL THE DISRUPTIONS LOOK LIKE?
A once-in-a-generation building blitz inevitably leads to road closures and disruptions to the city’s normal traffic flows.
Construction has already started changing passage around Ballarat, with Nolan Street closed this month while internal roads were concreted at Ballarat Station.
At a December council meeting, Seymour Street and Lydiard Street North residents said they were not given enough notice from the state government about the change.
Road closures are likely to plague Armstrong Street North and Market Street due to GovHub construction.
City of Ballarat has admitted Civic Hall events will have to work around construction noise from GovHub.
Plans are under way to open Civic Hall in early next year, but City of Ballarat director of development and planning Angelique Lush has told The Courier anticipated their ability to host events in the space would be affected by noise “due to the sensitive works on GovHub build”.
Regional Rail Revival’s Mark Havryluk said they will “always let people know when disruptions are happening to give plenty of time to plan ahead”.
"With a project of this scale, it's unavoidable that we will need to replace trains with coaches from time to time so we can complete critical construction,” he said.
WHAT OTHER PROJECTS CAN BALLARAT EXPECT?
Her Majesty’s Theatre is currently undergoing major fixes to the roof and the stage, with more money allocated towards an eventual restoration of the entire venue.
The total required $22.3 million will go towards making the theatre Disability Discrimination Act-compliant, the installation of lifts at the back and front-of-house, automation of the orchestra pit, better dressing rooms and the extension and improvement of foyer spaces.
Another $5 million is required to complete the theatre project, after a $10 million state governent promise, as well as funding from City of Ballarat and a recent Heritage Victoria grant.
A number of projects which will immeasurably change the face of Ballarat don’t yet have a definitive start date.
Announced in the 2018/19 state government budget, a $461.6 million re-imaging of the Ballarat Base Hospital is still in the planning stages.
A new emergency department, a modern acute mental health facility and an intensive care unit will be created as part of the project.
Scheduled to open in 2026, upgrades will provide capacity for 18,000 more emergency patients each year.
The Ballarat Innovation and Research Collaboration for Health (BIRCH) facility will also eventually find a home on the Ballarat Base Hospital campus.
One of the city’s most contentious proposals – intersection upgrades on Sturt Street to improve safety – is still in the planning phase. Roads Minister Jaala Pulford told The Courier she is “looking forward to sharing ... new design options with the community early in the new year”.
A $14 million commitment for 1000 new free car parks in Ballarat’s CBD was a carrot for voters in the last weeks of the November state election.
City of Ballarat’s CEO Justine Linley stated a round table discussion was held last week with Regional Development Victoria’s Grampians regional director, and chief executives from Commerce Ballarat and Committee for Ballarat, but “no definitive position” was advised by RDV.
A government press release stated where possible, the new car parks will “focus on the use of public land, primarily available VicTrack land or existing VicTrack car parking sites”.
Another election promise of $58.6 million to fix nine trouble spots and intersections in Ballarat is without a start date, with traffic lights to be installed at the corner of Learmonth and Latrobe streets, as well as the major roundabout next to Delacombe Town Centre on the Glenelg Highway.
A two lane roundabout will be created at the corner of Dyson Drive and Ballarat-Carngham Road, which is a necessary facet of City of Ballarat’s plan to convert Dyson Drive into the major Ballarat Link Road between highways. Albert Street in Sebastopol will be widened.