25th Anniversary

Published on Monday 10 July 2023

Working Heritage completed 25 years in operation in 2023. Our organisation was incorporated in 1998 and was called the Mint Inc. The name came from the Former Royal Mint in Melbourne – the first property we were appointed to manage. Our original aim was to restore Victoria’s public heritage to ‘mint condition’. Since this time our approach has evolved, and our new name reflects this. 

Working Heritage conserves heritage places while making them work for contemporary uses. We believe heritage places should be living places – useful and utilised. We transform them into community assets through sound conservation and heritage management practices, adaptive re-use, and careful planning. Finding a mix of compatible community and commercial uses for the buildings we manage helps us continue to care for them.

In the last 25 years, our portfolio of properties has expanded to include 16 heritage places throughout Victoria – from the Former Royal Mint in central Melbourne to courthouses in country towns. As part of the celebrations, we hosted Peter Cox's presentation on “Climate Action & Energy Retrofit of Traditional & Heritage Buildings”. Peter is the Founding Member and Managing Director at Carrig Conservation International. As one of Ireland’s leading conservation and stone experts, he has the vision and experience to be creative and bring about unique concepts to improve and protect both new and historic buildings in both Ireland and the UK’s built Heritage. He is instrumental in advising and implementing national conservation & heritage policies on behalf of government bodies and local authorities. The event was attended by around 40 people including representatives from DEECA, Parks Victoria, Heritage Council Victoria, Heritage Victoria, National Trust Australia (Victoria) and BUDA, Castlemaine.