This is a truly multigenerational project that will be transformative for our Shire.
Council is about to go out to tender to engage an architect to undertake detailed design.
Elements of the Community Hub include:
New Library
The existing Hamilton Library is loved by our community. It has over 66,000 visits a year and 68,000 borrowings. Our visits per capita are 35% above the state average, yet at 482sq meters, the Living Libraries benchmarking indicates it is 35% of the size it should be, given Hamilton’s population. It has maintained exactly the same footprint for 60 years.
Despite this, it has become an important hub for the community, with the library programming being constantly oversubscribed and our diligent staff having to manually move books and shelves to create space for important community activities, particularly for children’s and youth programming. It is an invaluable “friend” when our seniors need help setting up My Gov accounts, or those that may be lonely or feeling isolated want somewhere to be and connect with others and read daily papers free of any fees.
Our new Library will have plenty of books and shelves, but most importantly, it will be about our community, with rooms and spaces for people and groups to meet; an extension of their lounge room.
Digital Hub
Sitting alongside the new Hamilton Library will be a Digital Hub.
The residents of our Shire experience disadvantage in terms of attainment of digital skills and access to broadband internet, compared with other parts of Victoria. Also, our Shire experiences low educational attainment due to poor transport infrastructure that restricts access to tertiary and vocational training opportunities. Only 54% of students go beyond Year 10 and only 13.4% of residents have completed a Bachelor Degree or higher.
This lack of digital access and post-secondary educational opportunities ripples through our community, negatively impacting digital inclusion, isolation, creates labour force and skills gaps that hinder economic development, all resulting in social disadvantage. In addition, businesses are seeking access to higher technologies, to support growth opportunities, than what they have available within their own operation.
Hamilton’s Digital Hub will comprise a mix of rooms to hire, training rooms for education providers, collaboration spaces for local businesses and mentoring spaces for Council staff to assist community groups and run programs. The Digital Hub will be an incubator for digital design, innovation and creativity.
Allied Health and Community Servicing
Completing the picture are a range of important services that will support families, including Maternal Child Health, Allied Health, and Aged Care services. It will also be the central service centre and office location for Council and three other government agencies. The one-stop-shop for these important community services ensures accessible services and agencies for a regional community which is typically challenged by the location of such services together with limited public or supported transport services. This model of a shared Hub also enables multi-agency collaboration, resulting in the alignment of services to community needs.
Town Square
The project will include the development of a new Town Square, which will be a focal point for community gatherings and entertainment, adjacent to Council’s Performing Arts Centre.
With the Community Hub located on Lonsdale Street on the former Toyworld and Mitre 10 sites, it will revitalise an important location within Hamilton’s CBD providing a critical public open space that connects the CBD with the local business providers, community, civic agencies and visitors.
Funding
Council has spent $3.6m acquiring the properties and will spend an additional $2m on the Hub design development process. The completed cost plan detailed a construction cost of $35m which Council has committed $15m, leaving a funding gap of $20m.