WINNER - 2023 John George Knight Award for Heritage at the Victorian Architecture Awards (with NH Architecture)

The Queen Victoria Market (QVM) sheds are significant at a state and national level. Operating since the 1870s, the open-air market sheds are remarkably intact examples of nineteenth century market buildings, and the only survivor of this typology in Melbourne. The original shed structures were showing signs of damage and decay after 150 years of continual use, and conditions for traders and customers were in need of an upgrade.

We worked closely with NH Architecture, Heritage Victoria and the wider project team to develop an approach to conserve and protect, rather than replace, the significant original fabric of the sheds. Interventions were developed for the timber posts and beams, and the steel roof framing, that retained the original design and fabric while upgrading access to water, power and services through new trenches and service bollards. A new insulated roof was developed and prototyped for this project to improve thermal comfort inside the sheds and support solar panels, requiring strengthening of the original structure. Additional consideration had to be given to the site's former use as a cemetery, constraining how the works were undertaken.

This project was successfully carried out without closing the market so as to minimise disruption to trade. Considered interventions will allow the market to continue operating in its historic tradition well into the future.