This build is a LEGO replica of the Alexandra Fountain, one of the most prominent landmarks and monuments of my home town of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. Known locally as simply ‘The fountain’ it stands at the centre of the city.

Designed by W.C Vahland in 1881 and named in honour of Alexandra, Princess of Wales, the fountain is located in Bendigo’s Charing Cross, the intersection of View Street and Pall Mall. Check out the real place on Google StreetView here.

The Alexandra Fountain is the second largest and most ornate municipal fountain in Victoria and stands 8.5 metres high and sits in a 15 metre diameter circular pool. It is made from 20 tonnes of local granite, cast iron and painted stone. You can find out more about it here.

This build now forms part of my Charing Cross display.

Built: 2018, 2019
Theme: Architecture, Bendigo
Exhibited: Wonderland Exhibition 2019-2020, Bendigo Bricks 2021, Brick Relief 2022, Bendigo Pride Festival 2023, International Day of LEGO Bendigo 2024, LockyBlocks 2024, Bendigo Agricultural Show 2024, Bendigo Treasures: Brick by Brick 2026, Bendigo Bricks 2026, Brick by Brick: 10 Years of Building Bendigo 2026

This build is a Neo-Classic Space spaceship inspired by Classic Space LEGO from the 80s but using the range of pieces and building techniques now available.

The colour scheme and styling of this ship will be immediately recognisable to any fan of the LEGO Classic Space theme (1978-1987). This ship was created as part of my Neo-Classic Space build, A-83 Exploration Base, find out more here.

For this build I created a range of custom stickers. If you would like to get your hands on my sticker artwork so you can print your own, you can do so here.

Built: 2018
Theme: Neo-Classic Space
Exhibited: Bendi-Con 2018, Brickvention 2019, Bendigo Bricks 2019, Queenscliffe Bricks 2019, The Seymour Show 2019, Bendigo Agricultural Show 2019
This build has now been retired.

This build is a Neo-Classic Space spaceship inspired by Classic Space LEGO from the 80s but using the range of pieces and building techniques now available.

This ship was created as part of my Neo-Classic Space build, A-83 Exploration Base. It was inspired by Rodney Bistline’s ‘Gryphon Objective Aggressive Exploration Vessel’, I encourage you to check out more of his ship designs over on his Flickr page.

For this ship I created a range of custom stickers. If you would like to get your hands on my sticker artwork so you can print your own, you can do so here.

Built: 2018
Theme: Neo-Classic Space
Exhibited: Bendi-Con 2018, Brickvention 2019, Bendigo Bricks 2019, Queenscliffe Bricks 2019, The Seymour Show 2019, Bendigo Agricultural Show 2019
This build has now been retired.

This build comprises of a LEGO replica of The Shamrock Hotel which stands on the corner of Pall Mall and Williamson Street in my home town of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The building itself comprises of four storeys of red Bendigo brick covered in a decorative rendered facade and features an elaborate mansard roof and two storey verandah.

The building was designed by Bendigo architect Phillip Kennedy and built in 1897, and you can find out more about it on the Victorian Heritage Register.

I have chosen to recreate the building largely as it stands today including the bar, foyer, staircases, reception area, laneway, Bob Boutique, commercial kitchen, meeting rooms, The Federation Room, and three guest suites. Check out the real building on Google StreetView here.

The Federation room is set up with a wedding reception in full swing, commemorating the 3rd of November 2012 when my wife Kara and I held our wedding reception there – you can see Kara and I as minifigs.

I also created some custom stickers for this build including the Shamrock Hotel menu boards, the Shamrock Hotel logo (which I also designed in my day-to-day life as a Graphic Designer) on the groundfloor window of the bar, the artwork featured throughout the building, some meeting notes, computers and light switches.

Built: 2018, 2019
Theme: Architecture, Bendigo
Exhibited: Bendigo Bricks 2019, Hotel Shamrock Display 2019, Wonderland Exhibition 2019-2020, Hotel Shamrock Display 2020-2026, Bendigo Treasures: Brick by Brick 2026, Bendigo Bricks 2026, Brick by Brick: 10 Years of Building Bendigo 2026

This build was awarded second place in the ArchBrick Build of the Year 2019.

This build is a Neo-Classic Space base inspired by Classic Space LEGO from the 80s but using the range of pieces and building techniques now available.

Growing up in the eighties and nineties means that I have fond memories of the LEGO sets from that time, Classic Castle and Space would have to be my favourites. I personally didn’t have a lot of Classic Space sets when I was younger but I have always loved them and their limited colour palette appeals to the graphic designer in me and their retro tech aesthetic speaks to my love of old-school science fiction.

In designing and building my Neo-Classic Space base I set out to honour the range and play options available in those original Classic Space sets. I have reimagined several must-have elements from the classic space sets including a range of ship sizes and types, small one person rovers, movable blue lab pods, light grey terrain (I had more fun with the terrain than I expected!), handy robot assistants, and a lot of satellite dishes.

You may be aware that there are established ‘rules’ for Neo-Classic Space builds, but I disagreed with some of them so I used my best judgement as to how to apply them in my build.

My base is named A-83 after my younger brother Adam (he was born in 1983 at the pinnacle of the Classic Space era) who sadly passed away at the age of 18 in 2001. Together with my sister Sarah, Adam and I spent countless weekends sprawled out on the loungeroom floor playing with our LEGO when we were growing up and blue Classic Space minifigures (and classic police minifigures for that matter) remind me of Adam to this day.

You can see some more detailed photos of the two larger ships, LL-999 Explorer and LL-997 Viper here.

I created a range of custom stickers for all the signage of the base as well as a set of 6 custom printed pieces for computer screens. The aim was to create graphics that echo the original LEGO printed parts from the Classic Space sets as well as the classic Seventies and Eighties science fiction vernacular. The printed pieces were expertly printed by Edd at BrickSanity in the UK. If you would like to get your hands on my sticker artwork so you can print your own, you can do so here. If you are interested in purchasing my computer screen designs as printed sticker sheets, you can do here.

Built: 2018
Theme: Neo-Classic Space
Exhibited: Bendi-Con 2018, Brickvention 2019, Bendigo Bricks 2019, Queenscliffe Bricks 2019, The Seymour Show 2019, Bendigo Agricultural Show 2019. I also presented a talk about this build at Paredes de Coura Fan Weekend 2021.
This build has now been retired.

This build is a replica of the public buses from my home town of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.

For as long as I can remember Bendigo buses have had the same livery, two bold stripes (one in blue and one in yellow – Bendigo’s traditional colours) running their length. In recent years an advertising company has been selling the sides of the buses as advertising space so we see less of their distinctive livery but for Bendigo residents there is no mistaking a Bendigo bus.

The form of my bus is loosely inspired by the green and yellow bus from LEGO set 60154 City Bus Station, one of the sets my wife Kara has on display in her modular city. I used the bus for inspiration but adapted the overall layout, positioning of doors, wheels and other details to better represent a standard Bendigo bus.

I also created some custom stickers for this build to add the Bendigo Transit logo, Victorian number plates, route signs and the Myki, PT and Scania logos.

This build now forms part of my Charing Cross display.

Built: 2018
Theme: Bendigo
Exhibited: Bendigo Bricks 2018, Seymour Show 2018, Bendigo Show 2018, Wonderland Exhibition 2019-2020, Bendigo Bricks 2021, Bendigo Marketplace Easter Display 2023, LockyBlocks 2024, Bendigo Agricultural Show 2024, Bendigo Treasures: Brick by Brick 2026, Bendigo Bricks 2026, Brick by Brick: 10 Years of Building Bendigo 2026