Melbourne will soon be home to Australia’s largest contemporary art gallery in a redevelopment the government is calling a “once-in-a-generation transformation”.

The transformation is part of a redevelopment of Southbank, the city’s arts precinct, with the new NGV Contemporary forming the centrepiece. NGVC will be a standalone gallery with a focus on contemporary art and design. Once built, it will become Australia’s largest contemporary art gallery and will be built on the site of the Carlton & United Breweries Building on Southbank Boulevard.

The project will see 18,000 square metres of new and renewed public space and will also include an upgrade of the theatres and public spaces at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

The hub will be home to the Australian Performing Arts Gallery, an expanded Australian Music Vault, administrative, education and research facilities, and a new centre for small-to-medium and independent arts organisations.

“This once-in-a-generation redevelopment of Southbank and the arts precinct will create thousands of jobs and attract millions of visitors from across Victoria, Australia and the world,” says Premier Daniel Andrews. “It’s a game-changer for our city that will cement Melbourne as the cultural capital of Australia”.

The Labor Government will invest $208 million over two years in the first phase of the project to kick-start planning and enable the NGV and Arts Centre Melbourne to begin raising philanthropic funds for the revitalisation.

The project is expected to create 10,000 jobs during construction, 260 ongoing jobs and attract an extra 3 million visitors each year.