The century-old Goods Shed standing in the way of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium will be relocated to a new location on the site as part of the $715 million development.
Built in 1915 for the Hobart railway, the structure was permanently listed on the Heritage Register earlier this year after it was found to have “state level historic cultural heritage significance”.
Heritage Council Chair Brett Torossi said the shed satisfied two criteria: That it is important to the course or pattern of Tasmania’s history and possesses uncommon or rare aspects of Tasmania’s history, in particular rail history.
“Any future change to the Goods Shed, including relocation within the property, would need to be consistent with the Heritage Council’s works guidelines,” she said.
At the launch of the new stadium concept images on Sunday, Peter Walker from Cumulus Studio said the decision to move the shed to the other side of the former railyards was influenced by historic images of the site.
“We had a look at the historic way that the rails used to run and we picked out a site where we thought it would be contextually appropriate to have the Goods Shed,” he said.
“It sits roughly where some of the historic buildings might have been.”
Walker said the shed’s timber post and beam and truss construction makes it easy to disassemble and reconstruct elsewhere.
“I think that keeping that history on the site is really important so that it still has a memory of what it used to be,” he said.
“The Goods Shed was for loading and unloading goods and along the whole side of it there’s these openings that we want to re-establish so that it can become very permeable and then activate to the north.”
Walker suggested the shed could host hospitality functions such as a bar or restaurant, usable year-round and on match days.
“We also think that we can open up the roof and get views to the cenotaph as well, so it becomes a real connection back to other parts of the site as well,” he said.
The ultimate decision on moving the shed will depend on heritage approvals and the outcome of the Project of State Significance process.
Walker is confident that the plans developed with heritage consultants, which consider the historic values of the shed and aim to preserve and integrate them, will succeed in ‘keeping a life in the shed’.
