Heathcote Community Hub redevelopment

Heathcote Visitor Centre

106 High Street, Heathcote

Operating hours from Thursday September 11, 2025:

• Monday, 9am - 4.30pm
• Tuesday, 9am - 4pm
• Wednesday, Closed
• Thursday, 9am - 4.30pm
• Friday, 9am - 4.30pm

Heathcote Health

39 Hospital Street, Heathcote

To make an appointment visit:

Maternal and child health service

Heathcote Mechanics Institute and Halls

121 High Street, Heathcote

Operating hours from Tuesday September 9, 2025:

• Monday, Closed
• Tuesday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Wednesday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Thursday, 9.30am - 5pm
• Friday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Saturday, 9.30am - 12.30pm

Thank you to the users of the Heathcote Mechanics Institute and Halls - Heathcote Lions Club, Heathcote Senior Citizens Club, Australian Plant Association, Capture Your Essence (Zumba), U3A, Wesleyan Church, AA, and Heathcote Guides for accommodating the Library for this period.

Works on the buildings will include:

• Demolition of the toilets and Maternal and Child Health room
• Restoration of the heritage features of the former Court House and Municipal Offices
• 8 new all-gender toilet suites and an accessible bathroom with baby change facilities
• New Maternal and Child Health facilities
• Addition of a new multi-purpose activity room (can be booked by community groups)
• Landscaping of the rear courtyard
• Expansion of the library
• Access to the library via the main High St entrance
• Re-purposing of the former Court House to create a community co-working space
• Addition of a tech hub to the library
• Free public wifi throughout the buildings

The project will refurbish two prominent heritage-listed buildings that are highly valued by the community but currently underutilised, transforming them into a multi-purpose community hub.

The hub will support a wider range of services and activities, including the City’s Customer Support Services, Maternal and Child Health Service, and the Heathcote Library. It will strengthen the role of the library as a key community service, approximately doubling the available space to meet national standards and support current and future population growth.

The expanded facilities will enable increased library services, more flexible programming, and greater community use. Co-location of staff will also support extended service hours without additional staffing costs.

The project will further provide co-working and meeting spaces for community groups and small businesses, while improving accessibility, energy efficiency, and connections to outdoor areas.

Community hubs play an important role in supporting community wellbeing and prosperity. They help people to connect with one another, with services, activities, events and learning opportunities. Community hubs are also a cost-effective way of providing community infrastructure and services.

Community hubs are characterised by:

• Being multi-purpose
• Able to support many different community needs and interests
• Being accessible to and inclusive of all community members
• Supporting ‘joined up’ service access and delivery for community members

The project is being funded by:

• $2M Australian Government Growing Regions Program grant
• $1M Victorian Government Living Libraries Infrastructure Program grant
• Remaining funds are being contributed by the City of Greater Bendigo

Yes. Consultation on this project has been ongoing for many years.

The need was first identified in 2015–16 through a community needs analysis led by Advance Heathcote Inc. to inform the Community Plan. Engagement involved a broad range of stakeholders.

In 2017–18, initial concept planning included meetings with building users, public sessions, and workshops to gather community feedback on what worked well, what could improve, and why.

This feedback informed the first draft concept plan, which was then presented to the community for further input.

Works will commence in the second half of 2025 for completion in the first half of 2027.

Yes, community members will be able to book meeting spaces and desks in the co-working space. More information will be available about hiring processes in the future.

• City of Greater Bendigo Customer Service Centre
• City of Greater Bendigo Maternal and Child Health Service
• Goldfields Library Corporation
• Regular hirers of meeting rooms

The former Heathcote Court House and Shire Council Chambers was designed by Melbourne architect, John Flannagan and constructed in 1863. The building was funded by both the local council and the state government and is quite unusual for incorporating the town hall with the courthouse.

Only a small number of other Victorian local councils have such buildings and very few have survived particularly those dating from the 1860s. Flannagan designed a similar building for the Hotham Municipal Council in 1862 and this previous design was used as a model by the Heathcote Council when lobbying the state government for funding.

The building when constructed was a face brick symmetrically arranged building with courthouse and town hall in large wings on either side of a central entrance bay. It is a good example of nineteenth century classicism. It was rendered in 1885.

The building has historical importance as it demonstrates the growth of the central goldfields area as a consequence of the gold fields and in particular the period of permanent settlement in the 1860s and 1870s when temporary buildings were replaced with permanent buildings.

Yes, preserving the unique heritage of the buildings is very important as the buildings are an important and much valued heritage asset for Heathcote.

The City has obtained approval from Heritage Victoria to undertake this project.

The upgrades will help to preserve and restore the heritage features of the buildings, bring them up to contemporary accessibility and multi-purpose standards and make them more energy efficient. This will help the precinct continue to function as an important community hub that can support many different community needs, and uses, now and into the future.