16 June 2010

Save McGregor Hall?

| johnboy
Join the conversation
16

[First filed: Jun 15, 2010 @ 10:07]

McGregor Hall

The Canberra Musician’s Club is launching a campaign via Facebook to save McGregor hall.

The hall, notionally home to the Canberra Pensioner’s Club has been an on and off redoubt of local entertainment endeavour (and also rightly famous for the devastatingly handsome bar staff) for many long years but the developers signage has gone up out the front and it’s meant to be flat by September.

While it might be too late to save the current structure what this town desperately needs to be retained is a venue for community hire close to public transport and central to the population, but not too close to actual residents likely to be disturbed by bagpipe practice, swing dancers, and scruffy musicians bringing in hordes of beautiful young women.

So if that sounds like a good idea to you time to make with the clickey clickey on the Facebook group.

Macgregor Hall

Join the conversation

16
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

@BenMac – its named after a former president of the Pensioners Club who occupied the place for over 25 years.

@rosscoact – the hall itself is free of asbestos. When the hall was refurbished in 79 the asbestos in the hall was removed. The rest of the building is routinely inspected and as far as I am aware the asbestos is considered stable.

McGregor Hall is used by a wide variety of people because its an affordable hall in the middle of town. The government and ANU claims that there are plenty of alternatives don’t take into account the cost of those alternatives or their accessibility.

Also important is the heritage value of the building as the last standing example of a type of building that was used to house workers who helped build Canberra in the period after WW11.

I’m not a real big fan of asbestos and rat infested dumps but I guess everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

It’s a bit late, the plan was approved well over a year ago.

PM said :

As it was a

bd84 said :

They have no chance. The land is now owned by the ANU and it will be demolished for student residences. If it wasn’t demolished now, it would be for future transport corridors.

In theory the building could be shifted – doesn’t need to be demolished.

What is the cost of recycling the structure to a location somewhere nearby vs the cost of demolition and removal of waste?

An absolute fortune vs. not much?

I believe as part of the planning of all the development that the ANU had all the buildings on the site assessed, including all the ones they have already demolished. From memory, the outcome was the buildings have no significance and are very close to the end of their useful life i.e. they are heading towards disrepair. Fair enough that it would be ideal for a new similar facility to be created to replace it, but I would think it would be up to the ACT Government to do so rather than the ANU.

As it was a

bd84 said :

They have no chance. The land is now owned by the ANU and it will be demolished for student residences. If it wasn’t demolished now, it would be for future transport corridors.

In theory the building could be shifted – doesn’t need to be demolished.

What is the cost of recycling the structure to a location somewhere nearby vs the cost of demolition and removal of waste?

The building is really nothing special. It’s the amenity that needs to be reproduced.

The O’Donnell Youth Centre I suspect.

troll-sniffer9:15 am 16 Jun 10

There’s a fantastic hall on Limestone Avenue next to Scrag’s High the name of which escapes me at the moment but mein freunds used to hire it for band practice etc years ago. It’s between Ipima and Henty Streets right on Limestone Ave.

They have no chance. The land is now owned by the ANU and it will be demolished for student residences. If it wasn’t demolished now, it would be for future transport corridors.

Well is it McGregor or Macgregor? A search of this site brings up numerous posts relating to this hall with the Mac spelling, although Google has both listed.

Who’s it named after?

watson there tonight?

(how embarrasment @ 1)

Holden Caulfield said :

Waiting For Godot said :

I don’t know where McGregor is, but I do know that Macgregor is a suburb in Belconnen. If you want to be involved in a campaign such as this, perhaps you should learn how to spell the name of what you are trying to save.

I think that comment burns, it’s a real downer.

He just can’t Hackett.

Holden Caulfield11:25 am 15 Jun 10

Waiting For Godot said :

I don’t know where McGregor is, but I do know that Macgregor is a suburb in Belconnen. If you want to be involved in a campaign such as this, perhaps you should learn how to spell the name of what you are trying to save.

I think that comment burns, it’s a real downer.

WFG – learn your Canberra geography b4 shooting from the lip- it’s in Civic, corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke Street.

Agree with the need for a community space like this offered, although we pipers have since relocated – must have missed the scruffy musicians bringing in the hordes of beautiful young women. 🙁

Waiting For Godot11:00 am 15 Jun 10

I don’t know where McGregor is, but I do know that Macgregor is a suburb in Belconnen. If you want to be involved in a campaign such as this, perhaps you should learn how to spell the name of what you are trying to save.

Or maybe we’re talking about something completely different in Civic?

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.