The Woodend Community Centre is located at 117 High Street, Woodend. The building includes the community hall, library, council customer service centre, meeting room, kitchen and toilets. The centre is located in a civic precinct, which also includes the Woodend Swimming Pool and Visitor Information Centre. The monthly Woodend Farmers Market is held on the site.
Key user groups include library users and library staff, Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group, local schools, Woodend Business and Tourism Association, young people and various other sporting and community groups.
The current Woodend Community Centre Master Plan project has built on concepts that were originally discussed by community groups in 2009 and further explored by the Woodend Community and Cultural Centre Community Group from 2016 to 2019. The current project is jointly funded by Regional Development Victoria (RDV) and Council. Both organisations have contributed $50,000 toward the project with the RDV funding being derived from the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund.
In December 2019, MRSC sought a suitably qualified contractor to deliver a Master Plan and Business Case for the redevelopment of the Woodend Community Centre and surrounds into a modern multi-purpose centre that meets the identified needs of the community.
Council has engaged Public Realm Lab to deliver on this project. The project will follow a five-stage process to arrive at the final master plan concept and associated business case as shown below.
Stage 1 - Project Commencement & Information Review
- Inception Meeting and Site Visit
- Information Gathering
- Review of Previous / Current Concepts
- Background Information Review and Strategic Context Assessment
Stage 2 – Consultation
- Workshop with key community stakeholders, local residents and Council Officers
- Consultation Summary
Stage 3 - Needs Assessment
- Review of Existing Community Facilities
- Review of Existing Library Usage
- Residential Catchment Population Analysis -
- Local Employment Profile
- Population Based Library Floorspace Demand
- Visitor Market Analysis
- Case Studies
Stage 4 - Master plan Considerations / Background Report
- Master plan Considerations
- Background Report
- Further community consultation of draft master plan
Stage 5 - Financial and Economic Assessment / Business Case
- This stage of the project will provide a financial and economic assessment of the master plan as prepared by Public Realm Lab. This will include a cost benefit analysis, visitor and economic impact assessment and qualitative benefit assessment.
In terms of the current project progress, Stages 1 through 3 of the process are now complete. We are at the final consideration for Stage 4 prior to moving to the development of the business case.