2 September 2010
Heritage Preservation at Toorourrong Reservoir
Melbourne Water has unveiled some options to preserve heritage assets within the Toorourrong Reservoir Park.
While some bluestone must be relocated during essential works to upgrade the reservoir to meet modern dam safety standards, heritage values will be preserved by reusing the bluestone on-site.
Melbourne Water’s Heritage Coordinator, Paul Balassone, said several options for preserving heritage would be presented for community feedback at a series of open community forums to start next week.
“One option is to rebuild the Clearwater Outlet structure in front of the existing structure, and another option is to use the bluestone spillway as a feature wall in front of the existing spillway,” Mr Balassone said.
“An alternative option would be to rebuild elements of both the spillway and outlet structure as part of environmental flows through a network of lily ponds.”
Mr Balassone said the options were examples of how heritage could be preserved within the Toorourrong Reservoir Park and Melbourne Water would be open to other ideas from the community.
The options have been shown to the Whittlesea City Council, Parks Victoria and Heritage Victoria.
Mr Balassone said the series of community forums would genuinely listen to what residents, park users and others value about Toorourrong’s heritage.
“This will enable us to best incorporate community values in the legacy of our works.
“As an organisation that’s been around for more than 100 years, heritage is really important to Melbourne Water, and we constantly have to balance the need to upgrade vital water supply infrastructure while remaining respectful to our past.”
Following the community forums, a heritage advisory group would be formed of interested stakeholders from a wide spectrum of community, agency, and local government groups to determine how heritage aspects can be preserved.
The reservoir upgrade, costing more than $11 million, will raise the dam wall by 2.5 metres and replace the old spillway. The works are necessary to ensure the infrastructure meets modern Australian dam safety structural standards.
The first community forum would be held on Thursday, 9 September, at the Whittlesea Community Centre from 7.00-9.00pm
Media Contact: Gavin Rainsford +613 9235 1587 +61 (0)400 690 502