Shepparton Art Museum works progressing

Aug 2, 2019

It's hard to ignore the significant construction taking place at the south end of Victoria Park Lake.

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Although difficult to imagine a five-storey building in place of the current dirt pile and countless steel bars, Greater Shepparton City Council says the project is well on the way to maintaining its completion deadline.

Currently in the construction phase of the project, completed works include reinforcement steel bars for the building's core foundations and sub slab plumbing for the loading dock.

The works started include concrete pours for the core foundations, formwork for the ground floor slab, more reinforcement steel for the ground floor slab and other sub slab services for sewer, water, gas and art hill earthworks.

Council director community Kaye Thomson said this was the largest construction project the council had embarked on.

"This is a huge project and every project has its tight points but on the whole we think we are going quite well," Ms Thomson said.

Aside from the $47.4 million build, Ms Thomson said there were other components that had recently started including governance transition.

The new SAM will now be run by SAM Ltd, rather than the council.

SAM Limited will lease the space from the council as well as the artwork.

Ms Thomson said the SAM Ltd board had been meeting over the past few months to discuss long-term strategic planning and marketing.

Kaiela Arts will also be moving from its High St location into the ground floor of the new building.

The Shepparton Visitor Centre will also be moving into the new space.

"The Visitor Centre will be facing the highway and there will be car and bus parking available," Ms Thomson said.

She said the construction would soon begin to take building form, with all layers of concrete expected to be complete by Christmas.

She said the community could expect to see walls and lighting completed early in the new year.

"Once we get out of the ground, you will see layers going up every month."

Ms Thomson said some of the other great features would include a new cafe, an event space with terrace overlooking the lake, an art hill, 140 seat amphitheatre and Aboriginal healing garden.

"It's going to be a great place to visit."

The project is set for completion by the end of 2020.

For more information about the new Shepparton Art Museum Project, visit greatershepparton.com.au/council/major-projects/sam