How the East Perth Power Station could save a gritty arts district booted out by Bunnings

HAMISH HASTIE - WA TODAY

As a Bunnings development pickles the future of a thriving gritty arts district just north of the Perth CBD an arts leader has turned his attention to the East Perth Power Station site as a potential saving grace.

The Pickle District arts precinct between Leederville and Northbridge transformed a once unloved industrial area into a hive of art galleries, artist studios and a boutique theatre and event spaces, but it has become a victim of its own success.

It boasts some of the highest-profile backers in the WA arts sector including Janet Holmes à Court who runs her Holmes à Court Gallery in the district.

Pickle District chairman Jon Denaro said a $25 million five-storey retail and hospitality complex that included a Bunnings and childcare centre spelt the end of the precinct in its current form.

Ever since the Pickle District’s death knell began ringing Denaro had been scouting Perth for new sites and the East Perth Power Station ticked all the boxes.

Denaro has discussed the potential of including an arts precinct at the power station with Kerry Stokes’ Australian Capital Equity before its joint venture with Andrew Forrest, known as Koomba Kalark, carked it in December last year.

WAtoday understands both companies are still keen on the project.

Last week DevelopmentWA announced it would go back to the drawing board and create a new masterplan for the East Perth precinct after the collapse of the joint venture, which had exclusive rights over the project for two years.

Denaro called on the agency to put the arts at the forefront of that plan.

“Let’s face it, we’ve been kicked out but what we’ve proven is that you can go to a bigger scale, it’s actually a better site,” he said.

“We can do something here that we can’t do now.”

Denaro said the power station could become a similarly popular arts destination like the Brisbane Powerhouse, which was an old power station redeveloped by the Brisbane City Council and now holds more than 1200 performances and arts events annually.

“It all works really beautifully, this thing could easily become that,” he said.

“[East Perth] is a lazy government asset, they need activation, Western Australia’s arts ecology here needs a boost and we need to attract tourists here on some kind of basis that’s smart and groovy and intelligent.”

The East Perth Power Station sits on a prized 8.5-hectare riverside site, but it has sat vacant for more than 40 years.

Successive governments have grappled with what to do with the building and surrounding precinct constrained by ground contamination and a lack of power and gas infrastructure.

The McGowan government bit the bullet in 2019 and committed $30 million to begin de-constraining works.

That has since ballooned to $90 million with about $67 million spent so far on removing hazardous materials, undergrounding existing powerlines and removing and remediating the electrical switchyard.

The state will also spend $30 million on a pedestrian bridge to connect the site with East Perth train station.

Lands Minister John Carey flagged that the masterplan process could see the site split into four separate sites.

DevelopmentWA said it was too early to pre-empt what the masterplan process would come up with.

Acting chief executive Dean Mudford said most remaining site de-constraining works were scheduled to be completed in 2023 with removal and remediation of the electrical switchyard expected in 2024.

The state government was informed of Forrest and Stokes’ departure from Koomba Kalark in mid-December, around the same time the mid-year review was published which said negotiations were continuing.

Despite the government’s knowledge of the Koomba Kalark’s fate in December the DevelopmentWA board wasn’t officially informed until February.

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/how-the-east-perth-power-station-could-save-a-gritty-arts-district-booted-out-by-bunnings-20230313-p5crni.html