The long-time owners of ‘The Hub’ Castlemaine, Neil and Heather Barrett, have made the difficult decision to put the 120-year-old property on the market.
The Castlemaine couple said they were both ‘above’ retirement age and had decided the time had come to sell the Barker Street property to focus on their major project, The Paddock Eco Village, and their other passion, The Hub Foundation.
“Our daughter has now settled in Castlemaine and we’d also like to scale back so we can spend some more quality time with our two grandsons,” Heather said.
The pair purchased the building in 2006 as a home for the Mount Alexander Sustainability Group, but much of it was unusable when they first took it on.
In 2009 they renovated the building from the ground up utilising the sustainability features they are so passionate about.
‘The Hub’ was officially opened for business in April 2010 by Barry Jones.
“They say the most sustainable building is one that already exists due to the energy that has already been spent creating it,” Heather said.
“Crosby Architects did the design for the renovation of the building and then worked with a team of consultants to design The Paddock. It’s been a long association.
“We also installed double glazed windows in the foyer, the light well which acts as a thermal chimney, water tanks, energy efficient lighting and many other features.”
The Barretts are proud to have been custodians of the iconic building for the past 16 years.
It has since housed Mount Alexander Solar Homes, which they founded in 2014 and saw solar connected to more than 1000 homes in regional Victoria. MASH has since been taken over by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance and renamed ‘More Australian Solar Homes’.
The Hub has also been home to Plastic Bag Free Castlemaine and many Hub Foundation projects and other like-minded initiatives and organisations.
“We currently have 20 tenants across the 19 rooms and the coffee window, plus a meeting room,” Neil said.
“I manage The Hub with Heather’s help and Heather oversees ‘The Hub Plot’ in the backyard.”
“We have some wonderful volunteers working in the garden and host regular Yes in My Backyard community compost workshops,” Heather said.
“It’s a lively place and we’d love to see the new owners continue to support our tenants and the principles of ‘The Hub’ but we will just have to wait and see what happens. It’s time for us to look to the next chapter,” Neil said.
The pair were both awarded OAMs for their environmental work at The Hub Foundation and The Paddock Eco Village in 2021.
While they are looking to the future they still have plenty on their plate with The Paddock moving into the final stages and their continued work on projects with The Hub Foundation. These include the recent purchase of a ‘trishaw’ from Scandinavia for the new ‘Cycling Without Age Castlemaine’ initiative, proudly supported by Cycle Safe Mount Alexander and Mount Alexander Shire Council, which is set to be officially launched alongside the Castlemaine Market Building this Saturday, April 1.
“It’s so exciting to see this latest community project get off the ground, it’s something that has been in the works since before COVID!” Heather said.
To learn more about the sale of The Hub see today’s real estate liftout in the Midland Express.
