Architecture news & editorial desk
Plans by the Investa Property Group to demolish the landmark MLC Building in North Sydney and build a modern office complex in its place may come to naught, following the recommendation by the Heritage Council of NSW to protect the building.
Considered one of the most important mid-century modernist buildings in Australia, the MLC Building on Miller Street was designed by Bates Smart and McCutcheon in 1954. At the time of its opening in 1957, it was the largest office building in Australia with a gross area of almost 42,000 square metres and a frontage of 100 metres.
Investa had lodged a development application with North Sydney Council in July last year to demolish the block on Miller Street and build a 27-storey A-grade office building designed by Bates Smart on the 6,650-square-metre site to offer over 74,000 square metres of net lettable commercial space. The proposed $560-million development has significant environmental goals including bein
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The fate of a modernist office block at the centre of a debate over Sydney’s architectural legacy is in the hands of a NSW government minister after the state’s heritage council recommended its protection.
The Heritage Council of NSW is directing the Minister for Heritage, Don Harwin, place the MLC building in North Sydney on the State Heritage Register after a plan to redevelop it sparked a backlash from urban conservationists.
Architect Scott Robertson outside the MLC building in North Sydney.
Credit:Renee Nowytarger
Investa property group has lodged a development application with North Sydney Council to demolish the 1956 block on Miller Street and replace it with a 27-storey complex designed by architecture firm Bates Smart to increase public space in the surrounding CBD.