31 July 2010

McGregor Hall closed without warning

| johnboy
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[First filed: Jul 30, 2010 @ 14:16]

mcgregor hall

We’ve just been informed that McGregor Hall has been closed without warning.

Ostensibly for asbestos issues, but one suspects that emergency heritage applications and community protest might have moved some hands.

The fundraiser for the ACT Women’s Legal Centre, Frau Now, booked for tonight will now be held at Corroboree Park in Ainslie.

Future events already booked for the hall are now up in the air.

UPDATE: The word from this Canberra Musicians Club is this:

McGregor Hall has this afternoon been closed due to asbestos contamination risks following the developer’s HazMat inspection.

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The_Other_Hendo2:58 pm 03 Aug 10

I would argue that Macgregor Hall has a heap of cultural significance in the use of the hall by dancing groups and for music gigs; and it could have been a bit prettier had the government thought to put a bit of money into the furnishings, fixing the toilets, making the back rooms more useable, etc.

But no, it’s more than 20 years old, off it goes.

Proudof Canberra10:18 pm 02 Aug 10

Progress is not supposed to be about destruction.You don’t destroy something because it’s old.Where does it say that in order to progress you have to destroy everything more than five minutes old?

Do you throw out all your clothes as soon as they are no longer trendy and rush out to buy the latest thing just because it’s new?

georgesgenitals9:57 pm 02 Aug 10

I bought a new TV a few months ago, and it has this neat feature where you can freeze the image on the screen.

Some of you guys would love it.

Proudof Canberra7:56 pm 02 Aug 10

Well you are going to have to tell me what a NIMBY is in the first place. Progress is great without it we wouldn’t have the wheel but it does not have to consist of ugly concrete boxes that do not fit in with the very specific Architecture of Canberra.

Progress is a double edged sword be careful you don’t cut yourself as you wield it about

Proudof Canberra said :

H1NG0 said :

If everyone was a NIMBY, we would still be using old Parliament House.

It’s a lot better looking than that thing on the Hill. Are you a builder by any chance?

LOL I knew you had to be a NIMBY. No I am not builder but I do believe in progress. You probably are against the demolition of the old airport terminal as well right? How about tarmac runways and roads?

Proudof Canberra2:50 am 02 Aug 10

qedbynature said :

Youtube of the event

I lost count of how many time they said umm and had no specific answer to the questions they were being asked. Especially about who was behind it.

If it’s that unsafe they’ll have to seal off the whole area.

Asbestos can be removed and buildings can be restored.

Either way the asbetos if as bad as they claim must prove a huge hazard to anybody working there.If it’s not safe for people to use it’s not safe to be demolished either.

Example:

An asbestos-containing building that is to be torn down may have to be sealed and to have its asbestos safely removed before ordinary demolition can be performed. The asbestos removal may take longer and cost more than the actual demolition. For example, the former seat of parliament of East Germany, the Palast der Republik, was stripped of most of its asbestos between 1998 and 2001, before it was finally demolished starting in 2006.

Will this be the case here?

Youtube of the event

Pandy said :

Saltwater, for two years the community groups using the hall were told to piss off. Sot they gradually did.

I am sure the Griffin Centre is useful for some, but what Canberra needs is a cheap cultural, community arts and crafts centre that makes this city more liveable. Hell Cooma has better facilities.

Liveability, does not = noise and the ability to buy a coffee every 20 metres.

As far as I’m aware the fees for the Griffin centre went up and up soon after the new one opened, to the point where many groups found other venues out of the city centre.

Proudof Canberra5:58 pm 01 Aug 10

H1NG0 said :

If everyone was a NIMBY, we would still be using old Parliament House.

It’s a lot better looking than that thing on the Hill. Are you a builder by any chance?

If everyone was a NIMBY, we would still be using old Parliament House.

Proudof Canberra12:19 pm 01 Aug 10

McGregor Hall is not only a thriving arts community it is an important part of what increasingly little is left of Canberras original architechture.It is important for both these reasons. It is a little oasis of real Canberra surronded by the ANUs ugly concrete shanty town. These ugly buildings are taking over Canberra and changing the whole essence of the City.
This is about greed.They can see themselves losing a lot of money and they have stooped to the lowest tactics.
If the building is so dangerous it must also be too dangerous for the builders to work there has anybody thought of this?

Saltwater, for two years the community groups using the hall were told to piss off. Sot they gradually did.

I am sure the Griffin Centre is useful for some, but what Canberra needs is a cheap cultural, community arts and crafts centre that makes this city more liveable. Hell Cooma has better facilities.

Liveability, does not = noise and the ability to buy a coffee every 20 metres.

Before people want to start whining about this does anyone want to make sure (a) people were actually using this hall in the first place, and (b) the asbestos posed no risk to the public?

The point is saltwater that the hall has been in heavy use for decades and suddenly the shutdown comes a month earlier than planned (just one month) the day after the heritage council and stateline poked around the building.

decade after decade the government didn’t care, suddenly they’re feeling some pain and there’s a threat to a multi-million dollar deal and… BINGO!

Coincidental that they have already started doing soil surveying in the carpark ready for its closure and the demolition of the hall in the next month.

The timing and lack of public notice is obviously intended to cause as much inconvenience to the users of the hall. It demonstrates a “spirit of co-operation” between the developer who commissioned the HazMat survey and the Stanhope Government who has already publicly defended the ANU project saying that “the ANU out of the goodness of its heart allowed community groups to use McGregor Hall on a temporary basis” when in fact the owner of the property is the Department of Housing and Community Services. That is it wasn’t up to the ANU to grant permission to use the building because they don’t own it.

Frankly I find the whole exchange project depressing and dehumanising. McGregor Hall and the few mature trees left standing are the only enjoyable part of what is otherwise a gaudy concrete jungle. They will probably have to knock it down again in twenty years time to keep the development lobby happy.

How convenient. BS

Why don’t they just raze the whole thing? The place looks like a dump. The development around the uni lodge on the other hand looks great.

Actually I can advise that Monday’s Jumptown class will be at the Uni Pub Level 4 (corner of University Avenue & London Cct), at the usual time.

Jumptown students should watch out for an email (if you’re on the mailing list) or Facebook update with alternative venue details.

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