The Bathurst and District Branch of the National Trust of Australia has awarded its monthly award to the team behind the Tremain’s Mill restoration project for their revitalisation of the Victoria Stores facade.
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The heritage Victoria Stores building is set to become a key retail and accommodation hub for the Tremain’s Mill site, which was purchased by Stephen Birrell and Glenda Deans in 2015.
Mr Birrell and Ms Deans were both awarded National Trust certificates for their ownership of the building, as was principal builder Murray Arnold and master carpenter/joiner David Turek.
“It’s a great honour to win this award,” Mr Birrell said.
“We’ve put our heart, soul and hard-earned money into this, so it’s really nice to be recognised, and the National Trust has been a great supporter of the project.”
The Bathurst and District Branch of the National Trust of Australia is a volunteer-run committee which acts to protect, enhance and promote the built, natural and cultural heritage of the region.
“The owners, builders and carpenter/joiner are being awarded these awards because of the work that has gone into making this site such a showcase for Bathurst,” National Trust committee member Wayne Feebrey said.
“It’s great to see an old building like this one being brought back to life, and that’s the idea of these awards.”
The Victoria Stores building was constructed in two stages - the first stage was completed in 1881 and the second in 1884 - and initially served as the mill’s general store and haberdashery.
The building was then used as the site’s laboratory, as well as upstairs accommodation, before the site's 1980 closure.
More recently, before the site was purchased by Mr Birrell and Ms Deans, the building was home to the Keppel Street laundromat and Bathurst Motor Rewinds.
Combined with the flour mill and silos, the Victoria Stores building serves as a reminder of Australia’s bygone industrial history.
The building has been restored to reflect how it looked in the 1800s, as Mr Birrell wanted to revert the building to its original splendour.
“We chose the Victoria Stores building to restore because we intend to make that our shop front,” he said.
“We're going to be conserving and adaptively reusing other buildings on site, and we thought that building was the best one to start with to give the city a bit of an idea of what we’re trying to achieve.
“There’s a significant difference between restoration and conservation.”
Once completed, the building is expected to house two retail shops downstairs, as well as four luxury heritage apartments upstairs.
