Chiltern community hub celebrates new home

08/11/2023

Chiltern in Victoria’s North East has welcomed a new modern community hub bringing together a range of services under the one roof including a new library and kindergarten.

The recently opened hub provides a fully accessible and architecturally designed building for the community.

In its first week, 170 people visited the hub and library membership grew with an additional 36 people signing up in the first few weeks.

In addition to the new library and kindergarten, the hub houses expanded childcare and child health services, a new visitor information centre, and new meeting and storage rooms available for public use.

The state-of-the-art building has been designed for use by people of all ages and needs, with ramp access at the main entrance and accessible internal spaces and walkways. The new building has doubled the size of the existing childcare building which is now combined with the new hub.

The maternal and child health services will operate from the new clinic rooms every Tuesday and the library offers expanded hours.

The building is equipped with a 25kw solar PV system and contains a wide internal walkway coined ‘Hub Street’ which can be used as a flexible community space and has already played host to local art exhibitions and gatherings.

Located between Wangaratta and Wodonga, Chiltern is a gold-rush era town, built in the late 1850s. It has more than 20 historic buildings registered or owned by the National Trust.

The Chiltern Community Hub was identified as a key action in the 2016 Chiltern Placemaking and Structure Plan to enhance the appeal of the town and provide centralised services for residents.