KTA’s refurbishment treats a building of this standing with care. The brief centred on resolving long-standing accessibility shortfalls, particularly the absence of DDA-compliant access to the upper viewing tiers, while upgrading the foyer, patron amenities, backstage facilities, and building services to meet contemporary use. Electrical, lighting, and life safety systems were upgraded throughout, and public areas received new architectural lighting to better reveal the hall’s original character.
Working within an occupied, heritage-listed building meant every intervention was tested against what the hall already holds: the Grounds design, French’s window, the acoustic properties that have drawn performers to the space for over fifty years. The result is a hall that meets current standards of access and amenity without disturbing the qualities that have made it a fixture of Melbourne’s cultural life.
