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From heritage shed to contemporary cultural asset

At a glance

Castlemaine State Festival, a biennial celebration of visual and performing arts, set out to transform the historic Castlemaine Goods Shed into a flexible, contemporary cultural venue. With $6 million in funding from Creative Victoria, the State heritage-listed building beside Castlemaine Railway Station was carefully conserved and adapted to support performances, exhibitions and community events.

RPI successfully managed the project from early planning through to construction, delivering two multi-purpose performance and exhibition spaces, a central foyer, amenities, kitchenette, storage and backstage and change facilities—creating a versatile cultural asset that supports a diverse creative program for Castlemaine and the wider region.

The challenge

How do you breathe new life into a heritage-listed building—without losing the history that makes it special?

For Castlemaine State Festival, the Goods Shed needed to evolve from a historic rail building into a flexible cultural venue capable of supporting performances, exhibitions and community events. Every decision had to protect the building’s heritage significance while allowing for modern technical, acoustic and audience requirements.

The project was further complicated by its location alongside an active rail corridor, which restricted site access and construction sequencing. Detailed heritage approvals, tight budgets and limited availability of specialist regional trades meant the project demanded careful planning, strong leadership and disciplined cost control from the outset.

From heritage shed to contemporary cultural asset

Our solution

RPI successfully guided Castlemaine State Festival through every stage of the project, helping define a clear and achievable vision for the Goods Shed. We developed a detailed functional and technical brief and long-term master plan, giving the client confidence around scope, risk and cost from the outset.

By carefully managing the design process and bringing the contractor into the project early, we resolved challenges before they reached site, protected the budget and reduced risk. RPI managed the project through to completion, including overseeing construction on site, delivering a flexible cultural venue that respects its heritage and supports a diverse creative program for the community.

“RP Infrastructure project managed both design and construction components of the redevelopment of the Victorian era, railway Goods Shed at Castlemaine into multi-purpose performance and exhibition spaces managed by Castlemaine State Festival. The design stage was complicated by changing funding scenarios and project scopes and the fact that it was a State listed heritage building. The construction phase was managed in a context that there was absolutely no scope for the project to go over budget.”

“RPI Infrastructure demonstrated great professionalism, flexibility, high levels of open communications and responsiveness to changing circumstances, provided sound advice on procurement options for both the design and construction teams and kept the project on budget. Many thanks to Charmi, Eleanor and Stephanie for their commitment, dedication and great work!”

Bill Forrest OAM

Former Director Castlemaine State Festival and Chair Goods Shed Project Committee