Uni gifts Camp Street, refocuses campuses

FEDERATION University’s Arts Academy will no longer be at home on Camp Street, as the tertiary institution is gifting use of the land to the Ballarat community.

As part of broader changes within their new three-year campus vision, FedUni has decided to work with residents, the municipality and the State Governments to develop the 14,000-square-metre campus – including the iconic 1864 old post office building, former law courts, and more – into a publicly usable arts, entertainment, cultural or enterprise-centred precinct.

Federation University Australia vice-chancellor and president Professor Duncan Bentley said the Camp Street site is no longer up-to-standard for contemporary performing arts studies, but is prime real estate.

“Gifting our Camp Street Campus to the people of Ballarat would be a marvellous way to say thank you to the wonderful Ballarat community who have supported Federation University for the past 150 years,” he said.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a new precinct in the heart of the city for the whole community to enjoy.

“Exactly what that precinct will be is to be identified over the coming months through a community engagement process beginning at the end of January.”

The campus vision will see the additional rejuvenation, adaption and refit of the SMB Campus’ heritage buildings, and blend them with new, environmentally sustainable architecture; “the best of the past with the future.”

This Lydiard Street south site will become a skills and innovation precinct with a purpose-built Arts Academy, a $12 million Centre for Business Excellence, and a third Ballarat workplace for IBM.

Professor Bentley said the institution is aiming to create a “university town atmosphere” in the CBD – and jobs – with “clustered” learning attracting thousands of students to a revitalised and contemporary SMB Campus day-by-day.

“It’s going to be an amazingly vibrant precinct. It will bring more foot traffic through the city, helping local businesses and creating an energy in the city centre,” he said.

FedUni also has an ambitious plan for experiential learning at their Mount Helen campus, blending workplaces with classrooms.

They’re developing the 110-hectare site into an “integrated work-based education precinct.” Buildings will be upgraded and fit-for-purpose, with businesses moving on campus.

“Connected classrooms will be linked very closely with employers who will become much more a part of every aspect of the campus,” Professor Bentley said.

“We are designing with a purpose to enable employers to integrate completely… so our students have the hands-on learning experience with employers, and can create a pipeline of skills to… build jobs into the future.”

SMB Campus development will also include a new multi-level carpark, a cafe, and works on the streetscape.

Refreshed student accommodation has also been considered for the city and Mount Helen locations.