Building of the revamped Australian War Memorial is about to start. After the digging down and destruction of the old, the new will now rise.
The first tower crane is scheduled to appear just before Christmas. Full-scale construction is expected to start at the beginning of the new year.
Staff at the memorial are thinking about a "name a crane" competition, with visiting school children putting in ideas for a shortlist. The final name would then be chosen by AWM staff.
But this will be a sideshow to the main work: the Memorial has just agreed contracts with three construction companies.
It's also released new pictures imagining how the new $550 million complex will look.
It makes much of the "scalloped" roof of the new Anzac Hall at the back of the memorial (on the Mount Ainslie side).
The roof resembles the rising sun motif, part of the Army's insignia.
"In a fitting finish, the roof of the new Anzac Hall takes its inspiration from the iconic Australian rising sun badge," the memorial's director Matt Anderson said.
Another striking feature is an "oculus" - a ceiling window resembling an eye. It is the same shape as the dome above. Visitors will enter the memorial and be able to look up at the dome through the "oculus" window.
Each of the construction companies will build different parts.
Kane Constructions will manage the southern entry that looks down Anzac Parade towards Lake Burley Griffin.
Hindmarsh will do the CEW Bean Building extension to the right of the complex as you look at it from Anzac Parade.
And Lendlease has agreed to build the new Anzac Hall at the back to replace the old one, the demolition of which was controversial.
The now-gone Anzac Hall was finished in 2001 at a cost of about $17 million. It won architectural awards for its elegance but lasted barely 20 years.
It didn't go without a fight. There was a strong - but losing - campaign against its demolition waged by a broad group, including architects.
It housed some of the memorial's most popular (for visitors) artefacts like the Lancaster bomber and a Japanese midget submarine.
The memorial's management argued the old hall needed to go to make way for a bigger space - 7000 square metres more, the memorial said, "to tell stories of recent conflicts and peacekeeping operations".
The AWM's project director Wayne Hitches said: "These works are fully designed and documented, of the highest quality and the best value-for-money solution to meet the needs of the memorial for the next 50 years."
If all goes to schedule, the new south entry and the Bean Building will be finished by the end of 2024, and Anzac Hall by the end of 2025. Interior work, though, will not be done until 2028.
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