State has already spent $109m on East Perth Power Station, but there’s more to come

Despite having already spent $109 million to remediate the grounds surrounding the East Perth Power Station, more will need to be spent to make the building itself safe for human access.

While unveiling the 8.5-hectare riverfront site as a key Perth Festival venue on Wednesday, Planning Minister John Carey revealed that the building still needed remediation work, including removing asbestos.

The East Perth power station redevelopment is not over yet.

“There is a level of contamination within the building, there is also structural issues that need resolving, so I’m not going to shy away from that,” he said.

“But what I am proud of is that for the first time, we will see an incredible activation and show, I believe, the full potential, and what can be East Perth Power station.”

The East Perth Power Station closed in 1981 and various plans for the site go back to at least 2000.

In February, the site will become a music venue which will include a rare solo concert by Peter Garrett.

Noongar artists Allan Yarran, Ilona McGuire and Daniel Hansen have also been commissioned to create large-scale visual projections as part of an expanded visual arts program named Boorloo Contemporary.

“I think this event to be held here by the Perth Festival, will show the real potential of the East Perth Power Station into the future,” Carey said.

Remediation work to date, which included moving old power and gas infrastructure as well as removing asbestos and other contaminants has more than tripled from the original $30 million cost slated when redevelopment plans were first announced in 2019.

Carey said work was ongoing on a masterplan for the site, which the government’s own land development agency DevelopmentWA embarked on after an Andrew Forrest-Kerry Stokes joint venture fell apart, leaving their $218 million plan for commercial and residential buildings in tatters.

“There are so many enormous opportunities and the state is giving serious consideration about how we ensure we bring this building back to its beautiful form, but also make sure that it is a destination for both locals and tourists,” he said.

The power station featured in a Tourism WA booklet shopped around to visiting delegates at last month’s World Travel and Tourism Council global summit in Perth, spruiking an opportunity to build a hotel on the site.

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