Central Pier Docklands will not reopen to the public after engineers to they deemed unsafe the 100-year-old structure was closed in August after it was found there had been a deterioration of the structure at an accelerated rate and the pier was deemed unsafe for the public.
Author Archives: CreativeTeam
Docklands’ Central Pier closed indefinitely over safety concerns as businesses plan to sue
The historic Docklands Central Pier has been shut down indefinitely after it was revealed the structure would take years and “tens of millions of dollars” to rebuild to a safe standard.
Development Victoria confirmed today it would not reopen the 100-year-old structure after it was suddenly shut in late August due to public safety concerns.
The decision came after an engineering firm found there had been rapid deterioration in the pier, placing a cloud over eight businesses located in the precinct including a pub, cocktail bar, restaurants and event venues.
The assessment by Development Victoria found that, despite previous repairs, the rate of deterioration to the piles that support the pier was accelerating due to rot, and marine borer and termite attacks.
Chief executive Angela Skandarajah said a complete rebuild of the pier was needed and the process was made slower and more complex because of the historic nature of the structure and its location.
“At this stage we’re saying it would not be a repair, it would essentially be a rebuild, and that planning process needs to commence now,” Ms Skandarajah said.
“We will need to carefully consider what it may look like, we’ll start those conversations across government, but that would be a three to five-year process of planning and creating a new pier.”
Extensive repairs had been performed over the past three years and Development Victoria had invested $7 million in rectification works to stabilise the pier.
“We recognise its historic nature and importance to the Docklands area and we will be looking to see what we can do to ensure that in the long-term the pier can be open to the public as a safe place for them to use and occupy,” Ms Skandarajah said.
“Obviously this is not an easy decision to us, and not the decision we wanted.”
Businesses left in shock
Hundreds of staff lost their jobs following the closure of the pier in August and a spokesperson for the eight businesses said the tenants were in “disbelief”.
In a statement, the businesses said they were “extremely disappointed” with the timing of the announcement as the state grappled with a bushfire crisis.
“It is clear now that tens of thousands of people have been put at serious risk over a long period of time due to Development Victoria and its failure to maintain Central Pier,” the spokesperson said.
“We asked that the announcement be held off until the fire threat subsides and to allow us time to inform our workers and clients, but Development Victoria refused.
“Despite this, we will not be [commenting] until after the fire threat has subsided.”
The spokesperson told the ABC the business owners had collectively invested about $50 million in rejuvenating the pier since 2007.
The businesses affected are now suing the State Government, alleging Development Victoria neglected to maintain the pier.
Docklands turning into a ‘ghost town’
Opposition spokesman for priority precincts David Davis said the Government’s handling of the crisis had been “shocking”.
He said it had made parts of Docklands look “like a ghost town”.
“People are going to lose their businesses completely and many will be left in a very dire financial position,” Mr Davis said.
“It’s either terrible incompetence or a genuine heartlessness on the part of this Government, and I don’t think they care about businesses at all.”
Ms Skandarajah said the shutdown had not been an easy decision to make.
“Safety has always been our primary concern and the decision is based on safety grounds,” she said.
“The Docklands area is a vast area and there are many other businesses and activities. We understand this was an important part of the activity in the Docklands, but we still think there is a lot of things that will attract people.”
Dangerous Melbourne pier stays closed
A century-old Melbourne pier will be closed permanently after the structure was declared off limits over fears it was a death trap.
Eight businesses along Docklands’ Central Pier will not reopen after the area was evacuated in August because of fears the structure could collapse.
More than $7 million has been spent to stabilise the pier over the last three years, but Development Victoria says no amount of work can guarantee public safety.
“We appreciate that this is not the news businesses and staff hoping to return to Central Pier want to hear,” the statutory body’s chief executive Angela Skandarajah said on Friday.
“But we cannot support a lengthy and expensive repair program that cannot guarantee the pier’s safety for public use.”
The decision to close the pier permanently comes after engineers spent 15 weeks assessing the structure.
Parts of it are more than 100 years old and rot, termites and marine borer have all contributed to its deterioration.
Tenant Central Pier Pty, also known as Atlantic Group, operated restaurants and function spaces along the pier and announced in September it was suing Development Victoria for $100 million.
“It is clear now that tens of thousands of people have been put at serious risk over a long period of time due to Development Victoria and its failure to maintain Central Pier,” a spokesman for the tenants said after Friday’s announcement.
“We are extremely disappointed with the timing of today’s rushed announcement given that Victoria is in a state of emergency.”
Australian Associated Press
Melbourne’s Central Pier To Be Permanently Closed
A century-old Melbourne pier will be closed permanently after the structure was declared off limits over fears it was a death trap.
Eight businesses along Docklands’ Central Pier will not reopen after the area was evacuated in August because of fears the structure could collapse.
More than $7 million has been spent to stabilise the pier over the last three years, but Development Victoria says no amount of work can guarantee public safety.
“We appreciate that this is not the news businesses and staff hoping to return to Central Pier want to hear,” the statutory body’s chief executive Angela Skandarajah said
“But we cannot support a lengthy and expensive repair program that cannot guarantee the pier’s safety for public use.”
The decision to close the pier permanently comes after engineers spent 15 weeks assessing the structure.
Parts of it are more than 100 years old and rot, termites and marine borer have all contributed to its deterioration.
Tenant Central Pier Pty, also known as Atlantic Group, operated restaurants and function spaces along the pier and announced in September it was suing Development Victoria for $100 million.
“It is clear now that tens of thousands of people have been put at serious risk over a long period of time due to Development Victoria and its failure to maintain Central Pier,” a spokesman for the tenants said after Friday’s announcement.
“We are extremely disappointed with the timing of today’s rushed announcement given that Victoria is in a state of emergency.”
Fury and disbelief over long-awaited decision on Central Pier
A representative for eight businesses based on Melbourne’s Central Pier have expressed “disbelief” at Development Victoria’s decision not to reopen the 100-year-old structure.
Development Victoria on Friday announced its decision not to reopen the pier, following a 15-week assessment of the structure by engineering firm KBR.
The closure resulted in the loss of 1300 jobs, according to a spokesperson for the business which occupied the now-abandoned pier.
Restaurants and function venues were abruptly evacuated on August 28 after engineers told Development Victoria – which is responsible for the Docklands pier – that the structure needed to be closed as it had rapidly deteriorated and wasn’t safe to use.
Hospitality company Atlantic Group is one of the pier’s tenants. Its CEO, Hatem Saleh, issued a statement yesterday on behalf of the occupants of the pier.
“We are extremely disappointed with the timing of today’s rushed announcement given that Victoria is in a state of emergency and all attention is rightly and properly on the devastating bushfires across Victoria and NSW,” Mr Saleh said in the statement.
“We asked that the announcement be held off until the fire threat subsides and to allow us time to inform our workers and clients, but Development Victoria refused.
“Thank you to the tens of thousands of people from across Australia who have come forward and supported the businesses and workers on Central Pier.
“Our thoughts remain with the firefighters, their families and everyone affected by the devastating fires across Victoria and NSW.”
Events including the NAB AFL Rising Star awards were forced to find last-minute replacement venues and fences were put up around the area.
According to Development Victoria, the assessment of the pier revealed the piles that support it are rapidly deteriorating due to rot, marine borer and termite attacks.
Development Victoria CEO Angela Skandarajah said the pier would continue to deteriorate, even if funds were put into repairs.
“Even if we were to invest significant funds and time in repairs, our engineers advise the issues will continue to resurface without ongoing specialist maintenance work,” she said.
“This investment would still not guarantee that the pier can be made safe for public access in the medium to long term due to its ongoing deterioration.”
Development Victoria said $7 million has been invested in rectification works to stabilise the pier.
In October businesses at the damaged pier launched legal action in the Federal Court over claims Development Victoria engaged in “misleading and deceptive” conduct in its role as the landlord of the precinct.
The action was lodged five weeks after the pier was dramatically evacuated.
The businesses are claiming Development Victoria knew when it signed a lease with the tenants in mid-2015 that the pier was deteriorating “at an increasing rate, despite the repair works it was carrying out”.
They also claim Development Victoria led tenants to believe the repairs being undertaken would allow them to continue to do business until the end of their leases in 2026, but say this claim was “misleading and deceptive”.
Ms Skandarajah said it wasn’t a decision taken lightly.
“We appreciate that this is not the news businesses and staff hoping to return to Central Pier want to hear,” she said.
“It has been a difficult decision and we regret that the pier must remain closed. But we cannot support a lengthy and expensive repair program that cannot guarantee the pier’s safety for public use.”
Despite the refusal to fund repair works, Development Victoria said it remains committed to ensuring a future for Central Pier and will work with the community and a range of other stakeholders to identify opportunities to rebuild the pier.
Docklands’ Central Pier to remain closed due to safety fears
The 100-year-old Central Pier in Docklands has been closed forever because of safety concerns.
Development Victoria said an investigation and assessment revealed the rate of deterioration to the piles that support the pier was accelerating due to rot, marine borer and termite attacks.
That was despite previous repair work on the pier.
“Due to the complexity and age of the structure of the pier, repairs required to bring the pier back into service would be extensive. Even if we were to invest significant funds and time in repairs, our engineers advise the issues will continue to resurface without ongoing specialist maintenance work. This investment would still not guarantee that the pier can be made safe for public access in the medium to long term due to its ongoing deterioration,” chief executive of Development Victoria, Angela Skandarajah said.
Tenants on the pier have been told, but the Herald Sun understands there was no time for the affected businesses to tell staff before the DV announcement.
The Herald Sun revealed in November checks were carried out every two months in the 12 months to August this year by KBR failed to detect that almost a third of the piles under Shed 14 had some form of defects.
It’s believed about 28 per cent of the piles had some form of defects – and tenants questioned how they could have been missed.
“We appreciate that this is not the news businesses and staff hoping to return to Central Pier want to hear. It has been a difficult decision and we regret that the pier must remain closed. “But we cannot support a lengthy and expensive repair program that cannot guarantee the pier’s safety for public use,” she said.
DV was committed to ensuring a future for Central Pier, and would work with Heritage Victoria, the community and a range of other stakeholders to identify opportunities to rebuild the pier so it could be safely used, she said.
A spokesman for the tenants of Central Pier said they were in “disbelief”.
“The safety of our 1300 staff members and customers has always been our number one priority and it is clear now that tens of thousands of people have been put at serious risk over a long period of time due to Development Victoria and its failure to maintain Central Pier.”
The timing of the announcement – when Victoria was in the grip of a bushfire crisis – was “ extremely disappointed”.
“We asked that the announcement be held off until the fire threat subsides and to allow us time to inform our workers and clients, but Development Victoria refused. Despite this, we will not be holding any press conferences until after the fire threat has subsided.”
Engineers’ pier pile-up
Crucial defects may have gone undetected
EXPERT engineers may have missed crucial defects at Dock-lands’ Central Pier and wrong-ly focused on a separate area before the popular precinct was abruptly closed.
The Herald Sun can reveal checks carried out every two months in the year to August by engineering consultant KBR failed to detect that al-most a third of the piles under Shed 14 had defects.
Tenants are questioning how they can trust the Devel-opment Victoria-appointed
firm and are demanding to know whether people were put at risk.
Shed 14 is being assessed, where it is understood 28 per cent of the piles inspected showed some form of defect. The Herald Sun has been told Shed 9 had been the focus of inspections, as it was assumed it was in worse condition.
Development Victoria said engineers inspected the pier every two months to “guide structural stabilisation works” and $5 million had been spent on rectification works in the past two years. It said there had been no advice the pier was unsuitable for occupation until its August 28 evacuation.
But there was enough con-cern before to ban heavy vehi-cles, with the MFB confirming “safety advice” prevented their appliances being used during a 2016 fire on the pier.
- “MFB appliances have been restricted from accessing Cen-tral Pier in Docklands for a number of years, following structural safety advice regard-ing load limits that was re-ceived from Development Victoria. Development Victor-ia re-enforced this restriction to MFB in August 2019,” it said.
The government body would not answer specific questions yesterday, saying it was a legal matter.
Tenants are taking legal ac-tion alleging they were led to believe the site would be struc-turally safe.
Development Victoria’s Geoff Ward said in a statement “expert engineering advice” in August meant the pier was closed for safety reasons due to its “rapid deterioration”.
- “A detailed assessment of the 1300 piles by divers and load testing on the top of the pier is now underway to under-stand the full extent of the damage to the pier and to identify what remediation works may be required and when the pier might reopen,” he said. “The safety of people working on and using the pier will be critical to any decisions made about its future.”
Former Central Pier tenant, the Woolshed pub, has been forced to close and has shed almost all its staff.
General manager Duncan Laidlaw said someone needed to be held accountable.
- “We were always told Shed 14 was safe … if they hadn’t been looking at it, what were they looking at? Everyone on it during that time, was their safety at risk?” he said.
Engineers may have ‘missed’ serious defects at Central Pier
Tenants of Melbourne’s Central Pier are demanding answers after discovering things were much worse at the Docklands site than they had been led to believe.
Expert engineers may have missed crucial defects at Docklands’ Central Pier, and wrongly focused on another area before the popular precinct was abruptly closed.
The Herald Sun can reveal checks carried out every two months in the 12 months to August this year by engineering consultant KBR failed to detect that almost a third of the piles under Shed 14 had some form of defects.
Tenants are now questioning how they can trust Development Victoria appointed KBR — and are demanding to know if people were placed at risk.
Shed 14 is currently being assessed, where its understood 28 per cent of the piles inspected show some form of defects.
The Herald Sun has been told Shed 9 had been the focus of inspections as it was assumed it was in worse condition.
Development Victoria confirmed engineers inspected the pier every two months to “guide structural stabilisation works” and $5 million was spent on rectification works over the past two years.
It said there had been no advice that the entire pier was not suitable for occupation until it was evacuated on August 28.
But there was sufficient concern before then to ban heavy vehicles.
The MFB confirmed “safety advice” prevented their appliances being used during a 2016 fire on the pier.
- “MFB appliances have been restricted from accessing Central Pier in Docklands for a number of years, following structural safety advice regarding load limits that was received from Development Victoria. Development Victoria re-enforced this restriction to MFB in August 2019.”
The government body would not answer specific questions on Thursday, saying it was legal matter and would be defended.
Tenants of the pier are taking legal action, possibly in excess of $100 million, because they allege they were led to believe the site would be structurally safe.
Geoff Ward, of Development Victoria said in a statement “expert engineering advice” in August meant the pier was closed for safety reasons due to “rapid deterioration of the structure”.
- “A detailed assessment of the 1300 piles by divers and load testing on the top of the pier is now under way to understand the full extent of the damage to the pier and to identify what remediation works may be required and when the pier might re-open.”
- “The safety of people working on and using the pier will be critical to any decisions made about its future.”
The Woolshed pub is one Central Pier business forced to close and shed almost all its staff.
General manager Duncan Laidlaw said someone needed to be held accountable for what happened at the pier.
- “We were always told Shed 14 was safe … If they hadn’t been looking at it, what were they looking at? Everyone on it during that time, was their safety at risk?
He questioned what the $5 million had been spent on and what exactly triggered the closure decision.
- “This has been mishandled, clearly work they have said has been done has not been.”
Central Pier tenants to sue
Crucial defects may have gone undetected
TENANTS of Melbourne’s beleaguered Central Pier have launched legal action
in the Federal Court against landlord Development Victoria over the closure of the precinct earlier this year.
The suit claims the property development company knew when it signed the lease in mid-2015 the Pier was deteriorating “at an increasing rate, despite the repair works it was carrying out.”
It also claims they acted in a “misleading and deceptive” manner, leading tenants to believe the repairs being undertaken would mean they could continue to do business until the end of their lease in 2026.
In September, Development Victoria announced Central Pier would remain closed until January, leaving in limbo stakeholders from events spaces such as MAIA, Peninsula, Sketch and Suma, as well as 1,300 staff members employed in the area.
“It’s devastating”
Woolshed general manager Duncan Laidlaw was forced to say farewell to his staff last month, conceding that the uncertainty surrounding the future of Central Pier was just “too great.”
The Herald Sun can reveal checks carried out every two months in the 12 months to August this year by engineering consultant KBR failed to detect that almost a third of the piles under Shed 14 had some form of defects.
Having overcome numerous hurdles over his 11 years at the Woolshed, including a fire in 2016, he told Docklands News that seeing the heritage pier fenced off still gave him a “hollow feeling” in his stomach.
However, he said nothing had been more heartbreaking than having to deliver the news to his staff that they would be made redundant, following Development Victoria’s (DV’s) decision in September to close the pier until 2020 amid safety concerns.
While Mr Laidlaw said that the business was hopeful of returning to Docklands
next year and had since supported staff in finding work elsewhere, he said the whole experience had been “gut-wrenching.”
- “It [laying off staff] was heartbreak,” he said. “There were so many tears and there is a lot of love from everyone, but they’re just gutted.”
- “They’ve accepted that we had to let them go but just not to see each other’s faces every day is a big thing and that’s what we all talk about when we catch up. It’s unbelievable.”
Tenants are now questioning how they can trust Development Victoria appointed KBR — and are demanding to know if people were placed at risk.
The Woolshed is part of a group of businesses on Central Pier that collectively employed more than 1300 staff prior to its sudden shutdown in August by landlord DV.
The businesses, led by the pier’s anchor tenant Atlantic Group which has a lease on the pier until 2026, last month announced that it would be suing DV for $100 million for what it alleged as a “failure” to maintain the pier.
In their statement of claim launched in the Federal Court on October 7, tenants argued that DV “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” and “did not act reasonably” when it shut the pier down on August 28 without providing a “proper report” of its condition.
Docklands News’ request to DV for a copy of the engineering report that led to the shutdown under Freedom of Information (FoI) was formally denied last month. Key reasons cited by DV included that its disclosure was contrary to the public interest, sensitivity of information and that its release would compromise the quality of future engineering works on the pier. A request for review of the decision has been submitted to the Victorian Information Commissioner.
Mr Laidlaw said that while all business matters would be determined in court, he wasn’t shy in criticising DV for showing “no support” to those affected.
- “We haven’t had a word. Not a word,” he said. “No information, no dates, not even what’s wrong with the pier … we don’t even know what’s wrong with it. Where is it damaged? What’s made it that way? Nothing. Zero.”
- “Hatem [Saleh] and Tony Schiavello [Atlantic Group] and that have their meetings with them [DV], but they’re still told basically nothing. So, they can’t pass on information they don’t have. That’s the hard part of it.”
- “They’ve said they are supporting us as I’ve seen on the news … doing what? Did you help my staff find jobs? Did you come and help pay their bills? Did you come and say, ‘really sorry guys, what can we do to help?’. None. Zero. So, what have you done to support us?”
- “We’ve had that many issues down here with road closures, when they moved the tram lines and they’re always doing works here and there and there’s always been a hurdle, but we’ve managed to get over it and keep our business rising.”
- “So, to shut us down with no reason, no excuse, no apology. We’re paying you rent. Their job is to maintain that pier. They haven’t maintained it and it’s devastating for the whole of Docklands and Victoria because it’s heritage-listed.”
Mr Laidlaw said that the knock-on effect of the pier’s closure on local businesses and the Docklands community had been “huge” and that like many of his fellow Docklanders, he hoped to see the pier reopen as soon as possible.
- “My biggest thing is the staff. The human element that has been lost. The thousands of people that live and work and breathe off it,” he said.
- “The disappointing thing, as a resident of Docklands, and someone who has lived and breathed Docklands for the past 11 years is just having this whole beautiful structure that’s on the water gone.”
- “Where else do you go? The reason you come to Docklands is for the water. There
is nowhere to go on the water apart from a couple of restaurants.”
- “The name Central Pier is for a reason – we’re the central focal point of Docklands. We bring Docklands together and now there is a gaping hole.”
DV has been unable to provide any comment on Central Pier while the matter is in court.