Controversial $39m development approved next to St Mary’s Cathedral

3 months ago 8

A controversial plan for a $39 million office building including a bookshop and cafe next to St Mary’s Cathedral has been approved by a NSW court after an earlier proposal was knocked back by the City of Sydney Council.

In a decision this month, the Land and Environment Court granted development consent to the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney for the demolition of an existing car park and the construction of the new chancery building in the heritage-listed cathedral precinct opposite Hyde Park.

The new building will be located on St Mary’s Road between the cathedral and a former school building, which are listed together as items of state heritage significance. The area forms part of the larger Governors’ Domain and Civic Precinct that is covered by separate national heritage protections.

The original development proposal, refused by the council in August last year, was for a more imposing six-storey building, including four storeys visible from the street.

It had raised the ire of some parishioners, one of whom decried the plan in a submission to the council as an “act of vandalism” that “destroys the formal grandeur of the present cathedral and its precincts”.

Some parishioners opposed the plan for a $39 million building next to St Mary’s Cathedral.

The amended proposal, approved by the court after the Archdiocese filed an appeal, has a lower impact, with two principal storeys above ground and a less obtrusive third storey. It will include offices, a bookshop, a cafe and community meeting rooms.

“St Mary’s Cathedral is the oldest Catholic church in Australia, and the former school building on the site, variously known as Chapter Hall or Chapter House, is the oldest building in the St Mary’s precinct and possibly the oldest intact Catholic school building in Australia,” Commissioner Timothy Horton said in his decision.

The commissioner said the cathedral “has been a part of the Sydney skyline in some form for more than a century, and a Catholic Church has been a feature of its site since a church of that name was first dedicated” in 1836.

“It is commonly held that St Mary’s Cathedral and Chapter Hall, and their setting, are part of one of the most important civic and religious precincts in Australia,” Horton said.

Revised plan

In a revised heritage impact statement in April this year, consulting firm Urbis said the design had “evolved in response to the comments from the City of Sydney”.

“[Key] aspects of the revised design ... [include] a two-storey principal form (above ground) with a setback third storey and a rectilinear shape and parallel alignment with adjacent exceptionally significant buildings.”

The commissioner said the City of Sydney Council and the Heritage Council of NSW both contended that “the height of the building, and its bulk and scale, are inappropriate for the site”.

The council submitted that a height standard covering the site prohibited the construction of the building, but the commissioner ruled otherwise.

The City of Sydney Council also said the proposal failed to exhibit design excellence, while the Heritage Council argued the proposed development “dominates and competes architecturally” with the cathedral and Chapter Hall.

An artist’s impression of the original plan for the chancery building next to St Mary’s Cathedral. It has since been modified to be less obtrusive.

Heritage impact ‘acceptable’

The commissioner weighed all the evidence before him, including evidence from heritage experts who agreed “the site is suited to a building”, and concluded that the impact of the proposed building on the heritage significance of the cathedral was acceptable.

He considered that the height, bulk and scale of the proposal and “setbacks from the existing buildings in the precinct … [were] well considered and respectful, and so likely to serve as a unifying element when viewed from St Mary’s Road”.

Horton accepted that “the proposal achieves a high standard of architectural design”, and noted the external materials were “those of the adjoining state heritage items, being sandstone and tongue-and-grooved timber”.

Council reviewing the decision

Michael Digges, executive director of administration and finance for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, said: “We are grateful that the appeal was upheld, and confident that, if built, this new building will provide wonderful new facilities for the cathedral parish, worshippers and visitors to the site, as well as new chancery offices.

“The Archdiocese is steadfast in our stewardship of the St Mary’s Cathedral Shrine and precinct, and to ensuring it will serve Catholics and the broader community for centuries to come.”

Digges said that “[as] the mother church of Australia, St Mary’s Cathedral is not only important for the faithful in Sydney, but for Catholics who visit from Australia and overseas”.

“It also provides a place of prayer, solace and wonder for people of other faiths and even of no faith,” he said.

A City of Sydney spokesperson said: “We are reviewing the judgment but have nothing to add at the moment.”

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