Well beneath the gallery floors, a new storage space, housing an extensive collection of around 5000 items, means that gallery staff now have instant access to their collection, instead of the coordination and cost of transporting to and from a storage facility in Melbourne. An oversized goods lift also means that even items as big as a car can be stored and put on display as desired.

Ground level is where you witness the grandeur and impressiveness of this new facility. Essentially the areas are big open spaces, but still manage to display an intricacy, with the feature stainless steel stripping in the floor to match the detailed bulkheads above.

The viewing galleries off to the perimeter of the main space are finished with the same crisp white walls and ceilings, but introduce the traditional warmth of timber as the flooring. State-of-the-art air conditioning systems ensure that air quality and pressures are at an absolute optimum at all times, something critical with many pieces of value. In fact, by going to this level, the Bendigo Art Gallery has now qualified to host artwork from some of the most famous galleries around the world.

In addition to the new spaces, the existing Gallery Café also received a revamp, extending the dining space, and creating a larger, more integrated outdoor area, for enjoying a coffee while taking in the great views of Rosalind Park, the striking new Gallery, and the famous poppet head.