Canberra Services Club board chair Jon Hunt-Sharman said the club’s future is up in the air. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
The future of the Canberra Services Club’s Barton home is uncertain, but several historical items have managed to be spared from the flames.
The building was gutted by an oil fire that started in the kitchen on Friday (8 August), about 15 minutes after the club had opened for trading.
Club board chair Jon Hunt-Sharman said the vice president and some visiting tradies had grabbed the fire extinguishers to put the fire out, but it wasn’t enough.
“The oil fryer malfunctioned … the chef had switched the oil fryer on, and he noticed that it was heating up too much,” he said.
“He tried to turn it down, he tried to switch it off, and apparently it just continued to overheat until it got to a point where the actual oil caught on fire.
“It was very quick. We’re very lucky there weren’t any fatalities or any serious injuries.”
The club’s original wooden structure in Manuka burned down in 2011, but its historic club signage survived.
Mr Hunt-Sharman received word that it had avoided destruction in this fire too, along with the War Widow’s window and two Old Parliament House leather chairs, which had been donated to the club in 1947.
“The engineer’s just been in there to look at the place. He says the Canberra Services Club sign has survived. It’s still there,” he said.
“The War Widow’s signage window hasn’t broken and, as far as he can tell, the two old leather chairs are okay.
“But he said the rest of the place doesn’t look good at all. He said it looks very sad.”
The club had recently completed upgrades to its outdoor area, in part thanks to an ACT Government grant, and had been waiting for a new glass window to be installed.
New furniture is also being shipped, but now there’s nowhere to put it.
Mr Hunt-Sharman said they had spent almost $500,000 in the past two years to revamp the club.
“Our membership has increased three-fold in the past 12 months, we had bookings galore for conferences and meetings,” he said.
“We had the former Governor-General here on Thursday [7 August] night for the Bravery Awards Association, and then Friday we’re gone.”
The inferno blasted straight upwards into the ceiling and spread through the structure, causing the roof to collapse.
Windows were shattered from the heat and cracks have appeared on the external walls.
WorkSafe ACT has issued a prohibition notice to ban anyone from entering the building.
“[No one can enter due to] an immediate risk of crush injury, resulting in serious injury or death as the structural integrity of the premises has been compromised by fire,” it stated.
There’s no decision yet on whether the club will stay and rebuild, or cut its losses.
“One of the problems, of course, as I think we all know, building costs have gone up astronomically in a very short time,” Mr Hunt-Sharman said.
“So I think any valuation on buildings that have been done is going to be out of date anyway, so it’s going to be a struggle.”
The club is in the early stages of putting together a development application to build a new facility in Manuka, but it’s expected that it will take five years for that to be ready.
The plan had been to enjoy the Barton site while the Manuka one was being built.
“[That plan] has been brought forward, that’s all I can say, so we could say the one good thing [from this] is it will certainly stop the board from any procrastination, I can tell you,” Mr Hunt-Sharman said.
“The most important thing is no one’s been killed and no one’s been burnt.
“The rest of the place … whether it can be repaired, we don’t know, but the fact is, it’s only bricks and mortar.”
