Woolmers Estate is one step closer to unveiling its $5.3 million visitor centre, with builders Fairbrother handing over the completed construction on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The visitor centre is expected to be completed by April, with a meeting already booked for one of its many meeting spaces by then.
With the construction complete, the visitors centre needs to be fitted out with appliances and furniture and some landscaping needs to be done, before the official opening can be held.
The facility features two art galleries, the Frances Mary Archer Peck Gallery and the Nigel Peck Long Gallery.
Nigel Peck, the great-great-grandson of Thomas Archer I, one of the original owners of Woolmers, has been a strong financial backer for the facility.
Woolmers chairman Peter Rae said the facility would transform the site but the design had tried to fit in with the heritage aspects of the historic site.
“We wanted it to look out over the view of the rose garden but we didn’t want it to overwhelm the site.”
Fairbrother project manager Peter Adams and commercial project delivery manager Matthew Green said despite a few setbacks due to wet weather, the project had progressed on time and on budget.
The facility will include the two galleries, a commercial kitchen and function space available for weddings and other catered events, a look-out on the top of the site that looks out across Woolmers and towards its sister historic site Brickendon and a gift shop.
In addition tickets for all the different types of tours available at the site will also be available from the centre. Mr Rae said the site had been crying out for a facility such as this for a long time.
“Heritage premises are very expensive to maintain, we have to get a flow of visitors to maintain the heritage site,” he said.
He said he believed the facility would draw people to Woolmers for a variety of reasons. Once the facility is up-and-running the current gift store will be turned into a headquarters for tour guides. The Servants Kitchen will also be used as a multipurpose space for meetings.