That heritage protection endured for a year before a court revoked its listing a week ago.
The MLC Centre in North Sydney won the NSW Architects Enduring Architecture Prize in 2021.Dylan Coker
The president of the NSW Institute of Architects Laura Cockburn,modernist group Docomomo,a non-profit organisation lobbying to save modern buildings,and other groups are now calling – again – on the NSW government to intervene urgently to save the building.
They say the revocation was caused by an administrative error or a technicality in the drafting of the minister’s reasons to direct the Heritage Council of NSW to list the building.
“That this listing has now been removed due to an administrative error is concerning,” Cockburn said.
Cockburn said the institute strongly believed that demolition of this building was not warranted and would constitute an irretrievable loss to NSW.
The design of the MLC Centre North Sydney won the NSW Architects Enduring Architecture Prize in 2021. It was designed by Bates Smart McCutcheon and completed in 1957.Supplied
The 14-storey building was officially opened on August 22,1957,by Melbournite and then-prime minister Robert Menzies,who was quoted as saying,“The view[from the top floor] gives me such a new conception of Sydney that quite frankly I’m beginning to like the place.”
Cockburn has written to the new Heritage Minister James Griffin asking him to maintain the NSW government’s position,and redirect the heritage listing of the MLC building in a “comprehensive and definitive manner” so it was not vulnerable to future court action.
A spokesperson for Griffin said the minister was “considering advice on the judgment and will act in accordance with his statutory obligations”.′
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Environment said the former minister had been “provided with material regarding all the necessary considerations required by the Heritage Act 1977 (NSW) prior to making his decision to direct the listing,including from the Heritage Council and the Independent Planning Commission.”
The heritage listing was made last year after the then-special minister of state Don Harwin directed that the building be following a recommendation by the Independent Planning Commission.
The MLC building in North Sydney and the proposed new building.Supplied
Harwin’s recommendation was short. He included four reasons:the MLC was of state importance because it was a seminal building;it would lead to its inclusion on the state register;it would provide an understanding of the state’s heritage;and it would encourage the building’s conservation.
But owner,Investa Property Group,which plans to develop the site,brought action in the Land and Environment Court. It said the minister failed to consider whether the listing would render the building incapable of reasonable use,and whether it would cause undue financial hardship.
A court found former NSW minister Don Harwin failed to address key issues in his recommendation to list the MLC.Supplied
In a judgment a week ago,Justice Sandra Duggan agreed that these two mandatory considerations were legally required to be considered under the Heritage Act.
Harwin did not mention these two areas,and therefore the judge could not assume that they formed part of his decision-making. These were also “live issues” raised by the developers in correspondence.
Because Harwin failed to note that he had considered the mandatory issues,the judge said that he had acted in breach of his obligations.
“As such the decision of the minister to direct the listing of the MLC Building on the State Heritage Register was invalidly made,” the judge said.
“The absence of any reference to the economic issues in the minister’s reasons leads to an inference that the minister did not think about them,” she said.
Jeremy Dawkins from the Committee for North Sydney said it was important to note the decision did not consider the merits of the argument about whether to list the MLC or not.
The building was the tallest office block in North Sydney when it was built in 1957.Supplied
“Normally,the minister says,‘I direct the listing,’ and gives reasons for transparency so the public knows what the reasons are. They have to give reasons. But someone overlooked this.
“Maybe it was COVID,a depleted public service at the time.[Harwin] had these reasons,no doubt about that,” Dawkins said. “This is so easy to rectify.”
Dawkins said the Heritage Council commissioned professional studies of these issues,and considered wide-ranging evidence from the owner and experts.
The council concluded that a reasonable or economic use of the building,if listed,was possible based on the advice provided in the economic analysis and that the owner had not demonstrated undue financial hardship to the beneficial owners of the trust[that holds the title].
Architect and Docomomo Australia president Scott Robertson wants the MLC building saved from demolition.Renee Nowytarger
“The Independent Planning Commission then reviewed all the evidence and the findings of the Heritage Council,and concluded listing of the building ... is appropriate on the basis of a consideration of reasonable or economic use,including both the west and east wings,” he said.
“It found that,although the listing of the MLC Building would occasion the owner financial loss,it is the commission’s finding that it would not amount to financial hardship[or,if so] would not be ‘undue’.”
Dr Scott Robertson,an architect and the president of Docomomo,said the trouble was that the minister’s office and the minister omitted to say what they had considered leading up to the decision to list. “The information was there,” he said.
When it was built in 1957,the MLC building marked the beginning of the decentralisation of Sydney.
Writing inThe Sydney Morning Herald, the general manger of the MLC M.C. Alder said that the company’s headquarters in Sydney’s CBD had become “intolerable because of traffic congestion”.
Lawyers Mills Oakley said the ruling “dramatically highlights the careful tightrope that statutory decision-makers must walk if they are to make lawful decisions about state heritage listings and other matters”.
Often heritage listings were made quickly after a developer lodged an application to redevelop a site.Partner Aaron Gadiel wrote the decision would intensify the focus on decisions made by public authorities to proceed with heritage listings in a reactive way,without consideration of the impacts that the listing would have for the economic use of the building nor the hardship that may be caused.
“Having said this,in our experience,politically motivated local heritage listings are often ineffective at preventing the viable redevelopment of sites in need for renewal,” he said.
The building was designed by Bates Smart,the same firm now commissioned to create a replacement. It has proposed a $500 million 27-storey modern office tower that channels the spirit of the original MLC Building. The project,if given approval,will be North Sydney’s first net zero commercial tower.
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