Recent conservation maintenance has been undertaken by Urbangrowth NSW in preparation for the adaptive reuse of the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office (SSH, March). Whilst maintaining the building is seen as a positive step towards maintaining its heritage significance, the question still remains regarding what the CME will eventually become.
General statements have gone so far as to suggest that the “adaptive reuse will be for a residential or commercial purpose” or that “new uses include commercial offices, multi-unit residential or educational functions”. However, what the building will eventually become is still a distant light at the end of the tunnel.
Adaptive reuse can be viewed as a type of redevelopment where a change in a building’s primary function is involved. It’s about linking the past to the present, and the present to the future.
Heritage conservation and adaptive reuse go hand-in-hand. By respecting the building’s heritage significance and adding a contemporary layer that provides value for the future, conservation of the building results in the preservation of the history of the place, as well as serving the continued success of the new operation.
Adaptive reuse differs from restoration as it requires creativity to find imaginative new uses, providing greater license for change. Other examples of adaptive reuse at the Eveleigh Workshops include the Locomotive Workshops, Work Manager’s Office and New Locomotive Building at the Australian Technology Park, and the Carriageworks Theatre at North Eveleigh.
It is well publicised that Australia has an ageing population. It’s a fact that the population of people over 65 is going to double by 2030. Therefore, considering the demands this will put on housing for elderly people in Redfern and its surrounding suburbs, perhaps CME should be adapted into an Aged Care residential facility.
The small office rooms, arranged around a central corridor, could serve as lodgings; the Victorian-style balcony surrounds could serve Devonshire teas. The CME once had a lavish garden, with shrubs clipped into topiary forms, circular garden beds planted with annuals and manicured lawns. Reinstating the garden would be seen as beautifying the surrounds for the residents.
Importantly, whereas other residential or commercial uses would invariably divide the building into separate premises, an Aged Care facility would contain the building as a unified whole. This way, the vast scale and character of CME would be maintained.
