Strategic heritage advice to sustain a place of national heritage significance

The Trades Hall, on the corner of Victoria and Lygon streets in Melbourne, is one of the world’s oldest trade union buildings. It has been the home of trade unionism in the state of Victoria since 1874, and is associated with the history of the Australian Labour Party and with events significant to the whole country.

In 2016, we completed a condition survey and conservation management plan, considering the whole of the much-expanded complex and setting the basis for careful and considered conservation and adaptation to ensure the building continued to serve the Union movement and community well into the 21st Century. From 2018 successive grants through the Victorian Living Heritage Program has enabled implementation of conservation and refurbishment works to key public spaces, the portico and the roof. The Victorian Trades Hall Council also funded works from its own resources (and individual union contributions), which were carried out at the same time.

The conservation management plan focused on a series of management and planning issues that faced the Victorian Trades Hall Council. These included the ongoing and future uses of the building, the need to comply with statutory requirements such as the building code, establishing conservation works priorities, and looking at the possibilities of adaptation for parts of the building and/or its development.
The CMP also reviewed and further analysed the heritage values of the complex already described in existing heritage listings, including the Victorian Heritage Register. It formed the basis for a successful nomination for inclusion in the National Heritage List in 2023 and together with Broken Hill Trades Hall is part of a trans-national bid for UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

In 1891, a new double-height council chamber opened, in a new wing constructed over a rear courtyard. However, a fire in 1963 destroyed the interior, bringing down its elegant lanterned roof. The orientation of the room was changed in the rebuilding, and the interior was fully clad, hiding what remained of the 19th century decorative scheme.
Now known as Solidarity Hall, the chamber has been returned to its original orientation and refurbished. We returned the space to its classical debating chamber proportions: no matter where you are, you feel like you are in the thick of the action. This room is the beating heart of the collective union movement. The works included new seating, acoustic treatments, storerooms, toilets and circulation plan. In an exciting moment, the original decorative scheme was discovered to be substantially intact on the north wall. It has now been revealed and conserved in its found state, with minimal repainting.

A key focus of each stage was to ensure that the building is structurally sound and watertight, to conserve the fabric of the major public spaces and to integrate DDA compliance access. Roof repairs and some replacement works were undertaken, a new internal lift installed, various modifications made to doorways and circulation paths, an ambulant bathroom installed, an external verandah repaired and conserved, and a DDA compliant lift inserted into the entrance portico. For the key public spaces, a whole-space approach was used — access and services compliance works were carried out for those rooms so that subsequent compliance upgrades in the building would not ‘undo’ the conservation works.