Carrington’s iconic Pump House will become the backdrop of a new community space that will breathe new life into the famous industrial landmark.
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Work on the $1.2 million project to repair the building’s southern facade is due to be complete in mid-2019.
The area in front of the building will be remodelled to reflect the original layout and function of the Pump House.
“The project aims to provide an interpretive, interactive space immediately in front of the building to give the community a glimpse of its historic role supplying power for the hydraulic cranes at the berth,” a Port of Newcastle spokesman said.
Current works include improving the building’s weather protection, structural integrity and security.
While this first stage of works will not provide a complete restoration to the southern façade, it will enable the community to access the area.
The Victorian Italianate building was recently added to the state heritage register.
Built in 1877 by the ports engineer Edward Moriarty, the workers and craftsmen working on the Pump House were also working on the Newcastle's Customs House at the same time
The purpose of the Pump House was to run hydraulic cranes to load coal onto ships along the nearby waterfront stretch known as The Dyke.
A 2016 Engineers Australia report said the power station represented an "important landmark in energy technology in NSW and demonstrated the employment of state of the art technology at Newcastle port, the state's largest coal loading facility for much of the last 150 years”.
The only other large scale power station from the era that still survives is the Pumphouse Tavern at Ultimo, Sydney. The hydraulic power station at Carrington preceded the Sydney system by over a decade.
The Carrington Pump House was decommissioned in 1964 and has been abandoned since the mid 1990s. It is under the control of the Port of Newcastle.
The last major capital investment in the building was in 2007 when more than $400,000 was spent removing asbestos and restoring the slate roof.
There have been consistent calls over the past decade for the building to be reused, possibly as a restaurant or function centre to complement the Honeysuckle precinct.
Another previous proposal involved the construction of a three-storey office building behind the pump house. The plan was to link the two buildings via a glass walkway.
The current project is jointly-funded through a $500,000 grant made as part of stage two of the 2016 Newcastle Port Community Contribution Fund, in addition to a $700,000 contribution from Port of Newcastle.