Australian Opal Centre surges ahead
Construction of the Australian Opal Centre at Lightning Ridge is progressing daily, with locals offered the chance for an inside peek at all the hard work.
Opal Centre CEO Jenni Brammall says the construction is now proceeding quickly, with the northern and southern walls finished, most of the roof trusses in place and 30-metre-wide skylights being installed between the trusses.
“The internal pedestrian ramps that will take people from the entry down to the exhibitions are being built; so there’s a huge amount of work going on,” Ms Brammall said.
“In parallel with building, we’re focusing on the exhibitions, programs and experiences that will bring the new Australia Opal Centre to life and we recently engaged Arterial Design, a brilliant exhibition design company, to work with us.”
The multi-million-dollar attraction will be an energy-efficient, two-storey, partly underground building, filled with treasures from the earth and stories of the people who found those brilliant multi-coloured treasures.
“We will be opening toward the middle of next year, but it’s too early to fix an opening date yet’.
We’re looking at a time between Easter and the middle of the year,” Ms Brammall said.
“I’m being asked lots of questions about the opening now, after so many people have followed and supported this project for so long.”
On Sunday 13 October locals were given the opportunity to take a close look at the construction work.
Ms Brammall said the AOC wanted community members to have the opportunity to go into the construction site and see the work in progress.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, and so exciting, to have a nationally significant facility and architecturally important building under construction here in Walgett Shire,” Ms Brammall said.[…]
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