The vintage Victoria Theatre in Newcastle's East End could be refurbished and ready to open as early as late 2025 or early 2026, according to the project manager for the owner, Century Venues.
"If we get our funding package and all of our approvals to initiate a construction certificate this year, I would say we have every chance of opening late '25 or early '26 if everything falls into place," said Daniel Ballantyne, Century Venues project manager for the Victoria Theatre refurbishment.
Site preparations have started at the Victoria Theatre site on Perkins Street, the oldest standing theatre in NSW. A new hoarding has been unveiled which features an artistic impression of what the facade of the restored building will look like once completed.
Preparations include further waste removal (100 tonnes of rubbish was removed when Century Venues took over the building after purchasing it for $1 in 2015), establishing a site office and finalising the construction certificate.
"We are to the point now we're about to submit a DA variation, we've got our facade up, we've got our consulting team lined up, we've got a number of funding irons in the fire, we're very excited," Mr Ballantyne said.
"We have a DA [development application] to do some work, including demolition and site preparation. So we'll be taking out what we can. We'll be doing what we can within the constraints."
The installation of printed mesh artwork of the building's frontage on the facade serves as a reminder of what is to come: an ambitious plan to breathe life into a very unique, historic theatre.
"We've got funding to restore the facade," Mr Ballantyne said. "There is no reason why we can't proceed with that. That is a very important element of the building. It is one of the three truly significant heritage features that come in any of the reports of what is significant in the building.
"The facade, the stage tower and the interior auditorium volume are the outstanding heritage attributes of the building."
Newcastle heritage architect Linda Babic, from Heritas Architecture, and Century Venue's construction manager will conduct a detailed examination of the existing facade and produce a report that should provide strategies on how to do complete the restoration work, Mr Ballantyne said.
"We have approval in the current DA to do work on the facade, what kind of windows, what kind of repairs, that kind of thing, we do can quite a bit under current DA," Mr Ballantyne said.
DA variation
"The DA variation we've got is principally about the interior."
Century Venues, which also operates runs the Enmore, Metro and Factory theatres in Sydney, the Comedy Store in Moore Park, The Concourse at Chatswood and the Manning Bar at Sydney University, has decided to make further upgrades to the Victoria to truly bring it into the 21st century in terms of amenity and operation.
Foremost, the DA variation will include excavation under the auditorium to create a new basement.
"The original DA envisioned most of the services for the audience being provided under the stage, which it became apparent, do you really want people wandering from the back row to the front to go to the toilet and things like that during a performance?," Mr Ballantyne said.
"There is an existing basement under the stage, the way we are gaining space for that is we are raising the stage by about a metre, which is quite exciting. That will significantly improve site lines for the dress circle.
But the proposed variation seeks a basement under the auditorium floor, Mr Ballantyne said.
"We decided if we are going to get place comfortable and it's scale, we need more space again for storage and things like that," he said.
Century Venues is also seeks to add two more floors to the wedge building, adjacent to the stage, to create premium dressing rooms.
"We also wanted to commit more space to high quality artist facilities, especially in the wedge building, that building has two floors, we want to take it four, but we want all three levels from the stage up devoted to premium dressing rooms for the artists. So they can literally step out on to the stage from a premium dressing room," Mr Ballantyne said.
The company is seeking additional funding for the restoration from both the Commonwealth government and NSW government, as well as philanthropists. While more than $10million has been committed by NSW and Century Venues, much more funding is needed.
Mr Ballantyne said maximum capacity for the Victoria Theatre could be 1350 plus operations staff, but that may not be achievable. The dress circle could seat 418, with possibly 1100 for general admission the ground floor (no seating).
"We want to honour its history in many ways, while pursuing a 21st century outcome," Mr Ballantyne said.
