The developer behind the proposal to demolish and replace the modernist MLC office building in North Sydney is pushing ahead with the plan, despite the NSW arts minister’s decision to place the building on the state heritage register in 2021.
Oxford Investa Property Partners amended its development application before the North Sydney Council on 17 December 2021, having been granted leave by the Land and Environment Court to submit updated heritage and environmental effects statements in the lead up to the case going before court this January.
A letter from heritage consultant firm Vault Heritage Consulting submitted as part of the application posits that the demolition of the building remains an appropriate development outcome, despite the heritage listing.
Vault director Malcom Elliot writes that demolition is warranted “because consideration of the heritage impacts cannot be evaluated in isolation and must be balanced against other planning considerations, including the relevant considerations and objectives of the EP&A Act, which promote the orderly and economic use and development of land.”
When demolition was first proposed in 2020, the 1956 building, designed by Bates, Smart and McCutcheon, was only listed on the local heritage register. The proponents argued at the time that refurbishment would not be economically viable, and that the condition of the building meant it would essentially need to be re-built as a “fake replica.”
Bates Smart, also the architect of the building’s proposed replacement, a 27-storey office tower, noted at the time that it had worked with the owner of the building for more than a decade to find a way to refurbish it, but the plan was eventually deemed unviable.
Proposed MLC replacement in North Sydney, designed by Bates Smart.
Image: Bates Smart
“Bates Smart are highly aware of the importance and legacy of this pioneering piece of architecture,” the firm said in planning documents. “Our aim is to design a building in the spirit of MLC that is as pioneering for the 21st century as MLC was for the late 20th century, creating a new legacy for North Sydney in the 21st century.”
But the proposal caused an uproar, with heritage advocates including the National Trust and Docomomo Australia launching a campaign to save the building.
On 2 June 2021, NSW arts minister Don Harwin accepted recommendations from the Heritage Council of NSW and the Independent Planning Commission to heritage list the building. The planning commission had earlier found that cost estimations for the refurbishment of the building were likely an overestimate and that refurbishment would not create a fake replica, but would rather keep the building’s heritage significance at state level.
The updates to the development application largely restate the reasons for demolition given in the original application.
The letter from Vault Heritage Consulting notes that, “The state cultural heritage significance attributed to the MLC Building…particularly in relation to the ‘curtain wall façade and terracotta glazed bricks’ will be reduced as the heritage fabric will likely need to be wholly replaced with new building fabric should be being be retained.”
The letter also notes the substantial changes made to the original building fabric and “the competitive commercial office market extant within North Sydney and the apparent deficiencies of the c.1950s design of the MLC Building against more contemporary commercial offerings in terms of environmental performance, occupant facilities etc.”
For these reasons, Vault says, demolition is supportable subject to conditions, including that certain architectural features are preserved and that full photographic archival recording is undertaken before demolition.
The amended development application is viewable here.
