Advocacy

The new Hamilton Library, Community Hub and Civic Square will bring together learning, innovation and community life in one contemporary, welcoming precinct. The Community Hub is a $34 million, two-storey, future-focused development, designed to become the town’s centre for connection, collaboration and civic pride.

At its heart will be a new Hamilton Library with dedicated digital opportunities. The design will provide for a future-ready space not just to house books, but to spark ideas, build connections and nurture belonging.

While the current Library is one of Victoria’s leading regional libraries, it no longer reflects the scale of community ambition or future needs, severely restricted in space and size. The new build will reimagine what a library can be: a vibrant civic living room for people to gather to learn, create, collaborate and importantly, feel connected.

Flexible, adaptable spaces will host programs, events and shared experiences, expanding access to education and digital technologies for youth to support future pathways.

The Community Hub will provide office space for multiple government services, including Council offices and allied health. The building will offer adaptable spaces for programs and events, improving access to educational resources and digital technologies that support lifelong learning and future aspirations. It will bring together essential services in one location, including maternal and child health and aged care services.

The Hub will create a seamless, people-centred experience through a shared foyer and customer service area for Council and tenant government agencies. Flexible shared administration and meeting spaces will accommodate a range of room sizes to support different functional and work needs.

The Civic Square will become a central, open gathering place for community events and pop-up activations. Connecting to the New Hamilton Gallery sculpture garden, it will form the heart of the Hamilton CBD, creating a vibrant, welcoming space for the community and visitors.

By investing in a new Community Hub with a purpose-built library and civic square, we are investing in the long-term sustainability, wellbeing and prosperity of our region.

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Council is working to design improvements to Hamilton’s central business area’s streets and public spaces to benefit residents, businesses and visitors. The project was identified as part of the city-wide Hamilton Structure Plan prepared for Council in 2012, the Hamilton CBD Masterplan in 2020 and aligns with the New Hamilton Gallery project and the Government Hub Build.

The Hamilton CBD Revitalisation Project will focus on the CBD streetscape between Kennedy and Cox; and French and Lonsdale Streets.

This project will explore options to improve public spaces, introduce more public art and signage, parking, and improved trees and landscaping.

It's about strengthening the role of the town centre as the place where the community comes together the place where locals go to shop, meet and chat and just hang out. We need to provide new activities, events and spaces that draw people in and make them want to stay making the town centre the heart of the community for both special events and everyday life.

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Council has endorsed plans to build a new Hamilton Gallery on the site of the current gallery and is moving forward with detailed designs.

The current building is no longer fit for purpose to display and store such valuable works with issues including lack of display space for larger exhibitions, storage limitations, climate control issues and limited space for community engagement.

A new gallery will attract more tourists to the shire, which will have positive outcomes for our local economy. It will also bring significant benefits to the regional arts community.

The New Hamilton Gallery will be a transformative cultural space, bringing world-class art, innovative design, and dynamic public programming to the heart of Hamilton’s CBD.

Hamilton Gallery is recognised both nationally and internationally for its extraordinary collection and the breadth of exhibitions, with regular programs and events that seek to foster creativity and cultural engagement.

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