Perth Festival has set its sights on East Perth power station as an event space, a site previously earmarked for redevelopment by Kerry Stokes and Andrew Forrest.
Perth Festival has registered its interest in creating an events space at the East Perth Power Station, which was earmarked for redevelopment by Kerry Stokes and Andrew Forrest in 2020.
The arts organisation submitted an application to the state government’s land agency DevelopmentWA, for a proposed event space at the station precinct on Summers Street.
Perth Festival proposed to use the East Perth Power Station for about one month each summer from 2025 until 2028.
If approved, works on the site would start in early December, in time for Perth Festival’s run from February 6 until March 2.
As part of its application, Perth Festival proposed to hold a main stage, an outdoor music space, and bars for events to run concurrently at the precinct.
The proposed Casa Musica stage will offer free music at night, while the ticketed performances on the main stage will run from 8pm Thursday to Sunday, the application shows.
A light and multi-media projection, titled Boorloo Contemporary, has also been proposed for the site.
Perth Festival's proposal to use the station precinct. Image: DevelopmentWA
Sitting idle since 1981, the East Perth power station has been at the centre of discussions for redevelopment since the state government launched an expressions of interest process for the 8.5-hectare waterfront precinct in 2015.
The state government’s shortlist of preferred proponents – Mirvac, Australian Capital Equity, Frasers Property Australia, Lendlease and PowerHouse City Pty Ltd – was published in 2016.
Western Power was responsible for decommissioning the 66-kilovolt switching yard on site to open the station up for redevelopment.
In 2020, the state government chose Andrew Forrest-led Fiveight, through Minderoo Group, and Kerry Stokes’ private company Australian Capital Equity, as its preferred proponents to redevelop the station in a $218 million plan.
However, ACE backed out of the deal in early 2023.
A month later, DevelopmentWA announcing it has ended negotiations with Fiveight on the redevelopment a month after.
It comes after Business News reported Mr Forrest and Mr Stokes had a falling out, allegedly over a trucking contract Fortescue awarded to Liebherr instead of Seven Group’s WesTrac.
Despite more than $100 million already poured into the site to ready the works for development, DevelopmentWA said it received formal notice to dissolve the joint venture in February 2023.
“The DevelopmentWA board has resolved not to extend the exclusive working period deed, which expired on March 3 2023,” the land agency said at the time.
“After two and half years of negotiations, the board determined insufficient progress had been made on a range of matters to justify a further extension.”
According to DevelopmentWA, site clean-up and infrastructure relocation works on site, which started in January 2022, are expected to occur until late 2024.
The East Perth Power Station operated from 1916 until 1981.
Fiveight and Perth Festival previously partnered to deliver art events at Carillon City as part of the latter's 2024 season.
