The historic facades of Timor Street's shops are finally getting a facelift, putting an end of to the long-running saga.
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No-go zones have prevented businesses from painting the facades for more than a decade because of safety concerns over the location of the powerlines.
But after a deal was struck last year with Powercor, the buildings, many which date from the 19th century, can now be restored.
Powercor will make temporary changes to the city's power network to facilitate the works which began this week.
Powercor crews will install a complex series of network changes that will transfer power supply from high voltage cables outside Timor Street's shop fronts, to the surrounding low-voltage network.
The council has contributed $40,000 towards the cost of the power diversion.
Power will be re-routed for 90 days, allowing businesses to keep the lights on and painters to access the buildings and restore them to their former glory.
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Vicki Jellie said the council was pleased to support the business and building owners along Timor Street. "We know that many have been wanting to carry out maintenance on their buildings and this collaboration with Powercor removes the obstacle that prevented this from happening," Cr Jellie said.
"Importantly, pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained while the work is carried out."
Painters and other maintenance workers had previously been unable to access the upper floor of buildings in Timor Street due to the close proximity of high voltage powerlines and strict "no-go zones" set by Energy Safe Victoria.
No-go zones are minimum distances that contractors and equipment must keep from power infrastructure, which includes cranes, excavators, concrete pumpers, scissor lifts and scaffolding.
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Powercor major client manager Richard Scholten said the work would safely go ahead while minimising disruption to the local community.
"We know how important this restoration work is for shop owners in Timor Street so we are pleased that we have been able to support this facelift to be completed safely," Mr Scholten said.
"The final solution is one that not only achieves the desired restoration of each building, but does so in a way that keeps power on for these businesses and the surrounding community."
Once the project is complete, Powercor will remove the temporary high voltage isolators and re-route power back through the network in its normal configuration, with no impact to the power supply.
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