Goodbye, Powerhouse Museum: revised shutdown plans revealed

The Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo will close in nine weeks’ time for up to three years for multimillion-dollar renovations to its 35-year home, the Minns government will announce on Monday.

After nine years of fractious debate about its future, the doors of the Powerhouse will shut to the public at the end of the school holidays on February 5.

The September budget scrapped a $500 million rebuild of the museum, opting instead for a $250 million “heritage revitalisation”.

Powerhouse’s new city-oriented entrance next to the Goods Line.Credit: Tyrrell Studio

New concept plans developed by architects Durbach Block Jaggers and Architectus show the smaller budget will spread to a new entrance oriented to the city, showing off the heritage facades of the original 1899 power station and the 1902 Turbine Hall, and a low-rise addition and cloistered public square along Harris Street.

The temporary closure will enable the protection of the collection and the most efficient delivery of the project, the government said, and have the least impact on the Powerhouse, communities and audiences.

A staged closure was ruled out as it would have only “amplified” the cost of the project, extended the disruption period and led to a compromised visitor experience over a prolonged period, it said.

The cloistered public square on the corner of Harris and Macarthur streets. Credit: Durbach Block Jaggers

“When we close we will immediately begin decanting works in our collection on site, with care leading up to approvals and the letting of a construction contract so as not to delay the delivery of the project,” the museum’s chief executive Lisa Havilah said.

Subject to a detailed risk assessment, the priceless Boulton & Watt rotative steam engine will remain in situ through the building works. NSW’s first train, Locomotive No 1, and the Catalina flying boat are to be relocated to its Castle Hill store, a regional museum or museum standard storage when work gets underway, Havilah said.

Arts minister John Graham has guaranteed that all three of the museum’s iconic large objects will be back on show at Ultimo when the refurbished museum opens by 2026.

“After nine years of divided opinions of this site, we are hopeful that these new designs and a renewed focus on applied arts and sciences are more in line with the community’s expectations of this much-loved institution,” he said in a statement.

The exoskeleton of the new Parramatta Powerhouse going up riverside.Credit: Steven Siewert

“The area around the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo has changed significantly in the last 30 years. The design plans will reorient the museum, and open onto the Goods Line. This will connect the museum to the city, including major public transport options.”

The closure leaves the museum without a permanent shopfront until late 2025 when the museum’s new $915 million headquarters opens on the Parramatta riverside.

Havilah said the museum would deliver public programs including Sydney Design Week and Sydney Science Festival in partnership with University of Technology Sydney and Western Sydney University, and at Museum Discovery Centre at Castle Hill and the Sydney Observatory.

“We want to be as active as we have ever been in terms of program, collection development, and research,” she said.

The new low-rise building along Harris Street.Credit: Durbach Block Jaggers

The shutdown is not entirely unexpected, given the museum had no shows in development to fill its halls, once the Leo Schofield curated 1001 Remarkable Objects finishes.

Critics have warned that any closure before state planning approvals, community consultation and the letting of the construction contract would be entirely to save on the museum’s operating costs.

“There is no heritage revitalisation,” former Powerhouse trustee, Kylie Winkworth said. “The only renewal is the renewal of the secret plans to radically alter the Powerhouse’s mission, downsize its exhibition spaces, remove the staff and collections to an inaccessible site at Castle Hill, and destroy the collection facilities and museum endowed by the Wran government and taxpayers of NSW. All this after just 35 years. It is an unprecedented cultural tragedy.”

Opposition arts spokesperson Kevin Anderson said he was concerned that the timeframe for the Ultimo project had not been locked in. The Museum Discovery Centre should be ramped up to open to the public seven days a week in Ultimo’s place.

“We will be watching this very closely so that ultimately the public does not pay if the project costs increase as a result of delays and with the lack of detail to construction, design and timeframe. If the government hasn’t locked it down now and we don’t have exact numbers that’s pretty sketchy in my view.”

The Powerhouse is offering redundancies for 12 full-time visitor information officers and says it is helping casuals find other front-of-house opportunities in other cultural institutions. Conservation and curatorial positions are unaffected, it said.

But Public Service Association general secretary Stuart Little, said the union had received clear undertakings from the government that there would be no job losses, and any affected staff would be redeployed.

He said the union has expressed concern to the minister at how museum management will prioritise the collection and focus on Ultimo while it is focused on Parramatta.

“Given this is a significant investment by the state government and the Powerhouse is such an iconic institution, we want to make sure it receives adequate attention from senior management who are also tasked with implementing Parramatta.”

The Powerhouse Museum is to raise $50 million towards the project, giving it a total budget of $300 million for the rebuild of which more than $20 million has been spent on preliminary engineering and design works to date.

Havilah said the investment would be transformative and “enable the museum to move into the future, which enables it to not only showcase the collection but to give spaces back to the community” and for education purposes.

Under the latest plans, the museum’s 1988-built galleria, where the Locomotive No. 1 is housed, and the Wran wing are to be retained. These were extensions to the heritage-listed buildings of the repurposed Ultimo Power Station.

Next to the Wran building, a two-storey building will be built running along Harris Street, extending across the forecourt entrance and wrapping back to create an enclosed square protected from the elements.

The building will house a new exhibition space, learning spaces and a research library, as well as workshops and studios for creatives and researchers in the field of science and technology.

Overnight dormitories for 60 students will be built in the old Powerhouse Switch House. The 1901 post office is to be restored for education and community use next to an expanded park at the museum’s western corner.

“At the moment Harris Street forecourt is not a very inviting or usable space, it’s hot, windy, and loud, and this development will create a beautifully cloistered green space that will connect to education, community and exhibitions spaces,” Havilah said.

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