If you have walked past the corner of Bank and Coventry Streets any time in the last few years, you will know the feeling. The fences are still up. The building is still dark. And the clock tower still watches over the neighbourhood with the quiet dignity of something that has seen a lot and is not in any particular rush.
But behind those hoardings, quite a lot is actually happening. The South Melbourne Town Hall restoration is well underway, the timelines are holding, and for the first time in a long time, there is a credible answer to the question locals have been asking for years: when is it coming back?
Here is where things stand.
The building and why it matters
Designed by noted Melbourne architect Charles Webb in Victorian Academic Classical style, the South Melbourne Town Hall was officially opened on 30 June 1880. It was built to house the Emerald Hill Town Council alongside a public hall, a mechanics institute and library, the post and telegraph department, the police department, and the fire brigade. Essentially, it was the centre of everything.
The building was originally known as Emerald Hill Town Hall until the municipality’s name changed in 1883, and it remains listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as a place of state significance. One of its most enduring features, the clock tower, was fitted with a turret clock by Melbourne-based clockmaker Thomas Gaunt in 1881, with faces on each of its four sides.
If you want the full story of the building’s history, our earlier piece covers everything from its colonial origins through to its decades as a cultural venue. What we are focused on here is what comes next.
How it ended up in this state
The Town Hall did not fall into disrepair overnight. A partial restoration in 2004, funded by a state government heritage grant, reinstated the decorative roof and iron cresting removed in 1945 and returned the building to its original ochre colour. That bought some time. Then in 2018, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the building, significant parts of the internal roof collapsed, forcing extended closures.
From there, the gap between what the building needed and what it was getting became impossible to ignore. According to the City of Port Phillip, the building is no longer compliant with current building codes and standards and had become genuinely unsafe.
It is a strange thing to see happen to a building this prominent. The South Melbourne Market keeps ticking along, Clarendon Street holds its own as one of Melbourne’s most intact Victorian commercial strips, and yet the grandest building in the neighbourhood sat empty and fenced off while the suburb carried on around it. The current project is the response to that, and it is a serious one.
Who is paying for it and who is designing it
The restoration is co-funded by two parties. The City of Port Phillip is contributing $40.3 million. The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) is contributing $64 million, drawn from $25 million from the Australian Government, $29 million in philanthropic funds, and ongoing discussions with the Victorian Government for a further $10 million.
Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design is leading the design. ANAM Chair John Daley described the brief as being about a building that is “both beautiful and practical, so that the 150-year-old Town Hall can continue to serve its community for another 150 years.” That is the ambition on the table.
What has already been done
More than most people realise, as it turns out.
The slate roof on the east, south, and west annexes had reached the end of its life and has now been replaced. According to the City of Port Phillip’s project update, the new roof is expected to last fifty years or more. Solar panels have also been fitted to select areas of the roof, with more to be added as work progresses. Once complete, solar is projected to cover at least 30 per cent of the building’s energy needs.
There has also been a notable structural clearance. The former assistant librarian’s apartment in the north-west corner of Level 1, a 1930s addition that was never part of Webb’s original design, has been demolished. It is the kind of milestone that does not make headlines but signals real progress for anyone following the project closely.
Where things are at right now
The project runs across three overlapping work streams, as set out on the Port Phillip council’s project page:
- Base-build works (structural, watertight, safe): late 2024 through to December 2026
- ANAM early works (building extension and renovation): September 2025 through to August 2026
- Main fit-out: January 2027 through to December 2027
Two particularly visible pieces of work are either underway or very close. Seismic strengthening of the Clock Tower is scheduled to begin in early 2026, and roof strengthening works in the Main Hall’s trusses are expected to be complete by mid-May 2026. That structural work, covered in Mirage News’ coverage of the council’s December 2025 update, is specifically designed to support the installation of heavy sound equipment for future performances.
Construction of the new north-west annexe studio is also underway, with completion expected by November 2026.
What you will actually be able to do there
This is the part worth getting excited about. When works are complete, the City of Port Phillip says the building will have a new 150-seat venue sitting alongside a reimagined 350-seat main hall. Both spaces will be fitted with proper contemporary amenities and technical capability. There will be a new commercial catering kitchen, a front-of-house upgrade, new meeting rooms, and hire spaces built for real use.
The programming ambition is deliberately wide. Performances, weddings, school speech nights, meetings, community gatherings. ANAM will have its long-term home there under a 35-year lease from the City of Port Phillip, which anchors the building with a serious cultural tenant while keeping it open and functional for the broader neighbourhood.
So, when?
Completion is expected in late 2027. The building is expected to be publicly accessible from 2028, according to the City of Port Phillip.
That is not far away, in the scheme of things. For a building that has been out of action for years and has needed this level of intervention for longer than most people care to admit, 2028 starts to feel almost imminent. The clock tower has been waiting. The neighbourhood has been waiting. It is nearly time.
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