(26/7/2018) Town Hall wins another award

The restoration of the historic Fremantle Town Hall has been recognised with another prestigious award.

McCorkell Constructions, the City of Fremantle’s contractor on the $3.1 million project, took out the prize for ‘Best Historic Restoration or Renovation’ at the Master Builders Association Excellence in Construction awards on Saturday night.

The Town Hall restoration was also recognised with a WA Heritage Award earlier this year.

The City of Fremantle’s heritage coordinator Alan Kelsall said the award was a fitting reward for all of the dedicated people who worked to bring the Town Hall back to its original splendour.

“The Town Hall is such an important building for Fremantle and this project really was a labour of love for all the people who worked on it,” Mr Kelsall said.

“It was a technically challenging project because we were determined to restore the building’s authenticity by using traditional building techniques, but a lot of that specialist knowledge was hard to find.

“It’s a great credit to our contractors that the final result turned out to be so good, and I’m just thrilled that their skill and dedication has been acknowledged with this award.”

The restoration of the 130-year-old Town Hall, which was completed in May last year, was the largest heritage conservation project ever undertaken by the City of Fremantle.

It reinstated the building’s traditional appearance by stripping the paint off the walls to reveal the original stucco exterior.

The project also included reconstructing the slate roofs and refurbishing the historic clock.

With the restoration of the exterior of the Town Hall completed, a further $250,000 has been allocated to begin restoring the interior of the building.