Cairns Gallery Precinct demolition contract awarded for Esplanade building

An architectural carbuncle on the Esplanade’s backside is finally about to be surgically removed.

AN ARCHITECTURAL carbuncle on the Esplanade’s backside is finally about to be surgically removed.

Crammed between heritage-listed buildings lies an L-shaped eyesore with all the aesthetic appeal of the most shameful hairstyles sported by its 1980s contemporaries.

It is the structural equivalent of a bleach-blonde feathered mullet, and bulldozer operators are itching to give it a buzz cut.

Cairns Regional Council has ticked off a $946,000 contract for Down to Earth Demolitions to reduce the weird building that wraps around the former Mulgrave Shire office at 51 Esplanade to rubble.

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It is another big contract for a company which recently landed a demolition deal to clear the huge Cairns University Hospital upgrade site.

The decision to lance away the Esplanade most obvious abscess comes as part of a plan to create a beautiful new Cairns gallery precinct.

Its removal makes room for a yet-unfunded $40m multistorey exhibition space linking the Mulgrave building to the former Court House and existing Cairns Art Gallery on Abbott St.

The ill-fated building was constructed in the 1980s with additions made in the following decade.

It formerly housed offices for Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre and Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

“Commencement of site works will not occur until all permits and approvals have been obtained,” a council report stated.

“It is expected that all approvals will be obtained late December 2021 but could possibly extend into 2022.

“Site demolition works will not commence till January 2022 at the earliest.”

The council has set aside a $1.3m budget for the project with some of the remaining funds earmarked to strip back the Mulgrave Shire building to its bare bones.

“The early works will remove several items that have been identified by a heritage consultant as intrusive and/or low significance and will allow areas and features to be inspected for the planning and design of Stage 3 works (former Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers restoration),” the report said.

Those works include asbestos removal, tearing out carpets to reveal timber flooring and the withdrawal of partitions and false ceilings that were all the rage in decades past.

A kitchenette will be excised alongside garden edging and flagpoles, and gyprock panels pulled out of the reception area to reveal the original 1912 ceiling.

Division 5 councillor Amy Eden succinctly summed up the room’s feelings about its impending destruction.

“I can’t wait to see the ugly building gone,” she said.

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Originally published as Cairns Gallery Precinct demolition contract awarded for Esplanade building