Melbourne Innovation Centre - Alphington |
December 2022 - Alphington Closed*
As a business incubator, Melbourne Innovation Centre provides space and services to accelerate small business growth.
Melbourne Innovation Centre is equipped and excited to help your business succeed! With our internationally acclaimed Business Incubation program, coworking spaces around Melbourne, and soon-to-launch Acceleration program, we can help your small businesses at any stage of its journey.
Our Business Incubation program provides you with a knowledge-filled environment to successfully develop your business. We set you up in an office or warehouse space, provide you with mentoring to keep your business on an upward journey, and encourage you to attend our popular training events, and join our inclusive community of entrepreneurs.
Coworking space is accessible at Northcote, Heidelberg West, and Greensborough. Each are dedicated, vibrant spaces that enable members to focus on their venture with the support of a thriving ecosystem. Monthly, weekly, and daily membership packages are available.
LOCATIONS
ALPHINGTON | HEAD OFFICE*
2 Wingrove Street
Alphington, VIC, 3078
General Purpose Business Incubator
GREENSBOROUGH
61 Civic Drive
Greensborough, VIC
Business Incubator and Coworking
NORTHCOTE
43 James Street
Northcote, VIC
Digital Arts Business Incubator and Coworking
*Alphington Asbestos Issue
More than a dozen Melbourne businesses have been caught up in an asbestos exposure at a councilowned property that could endanger their health and result in their business folding.
The business owners based at Melbourne Innovation Centre in Alphington are also facing the prospect of their wares being destroyed once asbestos " hygienists' ' stop work this afternoon.
There are 38 businesses operating at the site including the Alphington Farmers Markets, electric vehicle designers, environmental consultants , mechanics, craft brewers, furniture makers and sculptors.
The Melbourne Innovation Centre is a charity business incubator that has operated since 1998 on a former tip site owned by Darebin Council. Tenants are offered belowmarket rent to help launch small businesses.
While it has long been known by tenants that some buildings on the site contained asbestos in walls and roofs, the centre - which acts as the landlord to tenants and runs the lease of behalf of council - said regular air testing had " always [returned ] results at safe levels'' , centre chief executive David Williamson said.
But on November 22, several traders were advised that asbestos testing would need to be undertaken in their workshops and studios for the following two days with the expectation they could resume work on November 25. But more than three weeks later, 14 businesses are still barred from their workplaces and their assets inside. It is unclear if they will be able to ever enter them again.
On November 30, council officers told a meeting of traders that through a process of " due diligence' ' ahead of the lapse of the site's 25-year lease in May, council had decided dust particles from the asbestos ceilings and walls was detected in some of the sheds and that the sites needed to be closed down for remediation.
At the November meeting, tenants were informed for the first time that dust particles were first detected in 2020 and at the time were deemed " medium risk'' .
In the same meeting, tenants were advised to seek medical advice and that any items unable to be cleaned by hygienists could be sent to landfill .
The Age has corroborated these accounts with several people present at meeting.
Nick Rennie, a furniture designer who has worked at the site for 23 years, said tenants had been given no notice to empty their workshops and had waited daily at the site for hygienists to pass over any items deemed clean.
Elena Mazziotta is a 61-year-old costumer maker who has worked in a studio at the site for 15 years creating mascot-style costumes for TV shows and productions. Her livelihood hangs in the balance.
Mazziotta has been barred from entering her room on the mezzanine floor of one of the sheds, where she has her fabric, sewing machines, costumes, spools of thread and patterns . Hygienists who have taken control of her space have retrieved a fraction of her business stock that happened to be in plastic boxes, but Mazziotta has been told it's unlikely anything porous - such as fabrics and paper - can be kept.
" I won't get my furs, I won't get my silks, I won't get my fabrics [or] my patterns. That's all my IP, you know? I've got 15 years of patterns in there.''
Raoul Luescher, a sports technologist who provides handle-bar extensions for professional cycling teams, said that without access to his workshop, major contracts were at risk.
" That's my life's work up there,'' he said. " What changed three weeks ago? How come it went from being acceptable to being unacceptable overnight?
" If we assume that things are contaminated , how is that affecting people who have been in there? Have my customers been exposed?''
In response to questions from The Age, Darebin Council publicly released the asbestos testing data conducted by private environmental firm SLR Consulting.
Council chief executive Peter Smith said the council was " absolutely committed to being open and transparent and have continued to keep tenants updated through the MIC'' .
A statement released by Darebin Council yesterday said that as the owner of the land, [it] " will be obliged to ensure the site is free of harm to human health before the site is reopened to the public' ' and that SLR was also " engaged to determine the extent of any potential removal works required on site'' .
In a separate statement issued to The Age, a council spokeswoman said that " matters of compensation will be addressed in due course as appropriate, as will the history of the buildings and any previous assessments that may have been undertaken .''
The statement also said the lease did not provide a rental income for the council, with the MIC operating rent free in exchange for the maintenance of the site.
Two Darebin councillors - former mayor Lina Messina and Trent Mc-Carthy - are current directors of the Melbourne Innovation Centre. Both councillors declined to comment.
This article by Rachael Dexter is from the December 16, 2022 issue of The Age Digital Edition. To subscribe, visit "https://www.theage.com.au".
❊ What's On ❊
➼ Alphington Farmers' Market
❊ Address ❊
⊜ 2 Wingrove Street Alphington 3078 View Map
✆ Telephone: (03) 9499 9100
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ Melbourne Innovation Centre - Alphington
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Accessibility: Contact the venue for accessibility information.
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