EJE was proud to be the recipient of not one but two “Awards for Heritage” at the 2019 Australian Institute of Architect’s Newcastle Architecture Awards. The Jury selected the conservation and adaptive re-use projects at Newcastle Station and the Newcastle Signal Box each as independent award winners in this category.
The transformation of the former Newcastle Railway Station site as a key element of the revitalisation of the Newcastle City Centre has been sensitively delivered to maximise the significant heritage values of the site and buildings, and create new opportunities for the site to be an important large-event public place, ideally situated between the City Centre, Harbour and Foreshore Park. The project included the reconstruction of an original two storey verandah on Scott Street, which had been lost to unsympathetic infill in the 1920’s, in original materials and detailing, based on research and historical photos.
The Newcastle Signal Box Stands as a beacon within the expanse of Newcastle’s Market Street Lawn entertainment precinct, a meeting point on the main pedestrian axis between the harbour and CBD. Conservation and restoration of the 1936 Signal Box has allowed an historic piece of the city’s former railway infrastructure to be given a new lease of life with adaptive re-use, and opportunity for the rare electro-pneumatic miniature switch gear machinery within to be displayed and interpreted.
Photos by Murray McKean Photography
