This very long term project is to create more retail, exhibition and office space for the museum using the façade of the YMCA building from the city. The façade will help make Tramway Ave look more like a street in the city.
The project has been running for many years now and has not been documented here on the web site due to the lack of a defined starting point to work from, and the fact that much work on the building is not all that visible to outsiders.
However over much of 2013, a significant amount of internal brick work was done by CSO brick layers, which provides a good starting point for documenting progress on this page.
2013
October
A ramp from the path alongside the display hall to the 1st floor of the YMCA building was constructed. This improves access to the first level significantly and makes the haulage of bricks into the building much easier.
Other significant work during 2013 was completion of the firewall between the display hall and the YMCA first floor, the fitting of several doors to secure the site and the “bricking in” of the stairwells. This work was largely done by CSO workers working off their penalty by working at their trade.
2014
February
What is probably the first glazed window arrived and significant progress made on the northern end of the 1st floor.
March
The previously mentioned window was roughly installed in position. These windows are quite important as the window sill is sufficiency low enough that Workcover flagged the window holes as a safety issue. The CSO brickies, having completed the inner wall at the north side of the 1st floor have made a start on the external face bricks.
2015
April
There has been a very long break in any significant work on the YMCA building as the bricklayers advanced so quickly that rapidly the walls became high enough that scaffolding has to be erected to protect the workers. Thus work has effectively halted on the building. However in April some workers completed the ramp to the 1st floor external door. This work doesn’t require working at height protections.
2024
April
Donations from members have allowed us to employ contractors to construct a brick wall on the top floor. This is a future interior wall separating the fire stairs and upstairs toilet, and is one step closer to having the building shell sealed.
June-July
Contractors have installed new aluminium windows on the top floor, thanks to previous donations.
Michael Hatton
August
Contractors have installed new windows on the second floor of the building, replacing one previously erected as a temporary fill in. This effectively means the entire back wall is closed off.
