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BBSNews - Melbourne
BBSNews - Melbourne
GROUND BROKEN AT NEW OFFICES OF THE MINISTRY SITE
12 December 2011
MELBOURNE – Silver shovels in hand, amidst a chilly December wind, Prime Minister Jeanne A. Hollingsworth and Opposition Leader Julia Fowler broke ground at the new Offices of the Ministry building in Ashtonfield. It has been four months since a terrorist bomb destroyed the old building on Adelaide Boulevard, during what has become known as the August Terror. Throughout the autumn, work crews sifted through the ruins of the old establishment; the tedious and sometimes unnerving job of finding human remains.
'Today, we celebrate a new chapter in the nation's history, while solemnly remembering those we lost when the last chapter closed', said Hollingsworth in a speech.
The new Offices of the Ministry building will feature enhanced security measures, including a reinforced facade made of blue-mirrored shatter-resistant glass, concrete columns a metre square, and thin windows on the ground floor. Critics have dubbed the new design the 'Offortress of the Ministry Building'.
Since August, the government offices that were working in the O.M. Building have been working in the Old Executive Office Building, a 19th century structure on Carillion Avenue near Parliament Hall. The new O.M. Building will be located on the lawn of the former O.M. Building, while the footprint of the old building is to be turned into a memorial for the 186 people who were killed in the explosion.