Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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Intention to demolish more of the newly listed council owned Hunter Street facing buildings including the Clarendon Hotel provoked further protests. Demolition was seen as destroying a practical option for redevelopment, one that conserved the early 20 th century design and scale of Hunter Street. Others believed that a cleared and vacant site was desirable. Commercial interests additionally favoured demolition of the buildings so that the land could be made available for car parking, pending the major development. 105 Lack of car parking in the CBD was said to be the biggest obstacle to the revitalisation of the city centre. Figure 48: buildings between the Clarendon Hotel and Burwood Street prior to demolition In the post-earthquake period Newcastle City Council was again in need of additional office space. The round design of the City Administration Building had proved less practical than more conventional offices designs. Some council owned buildings had sustained earthquake damage. Leased temporary office space in Hunter Street was expensive. Consideration was given to buying back Nesca House, and to buying another Darby Street property (the former Joint Coal board building) for a new office building. Converting the Fred c Ash building for office accommodation was an option discussed in 1991, although opposed by some councillors as a ‘waste of money’. 106 Buying more property provoked the Secretary of Trades Hall Council to reproach the council for its apparent lack of an integrated strategic plan for the civic redevelopment and its own accommodation problems. The wisdom of buying even more buildings was questioned. (Council had already acquired 15 properties in the Civic block at a cost of over $11 million.) Adaptive reuse of the Fred c Ash building was said to be a practical plan. There were plenty of good examples of recycled warehouses in Newcastle converted into quality office space. 107 105 Newcastle Herald 7 February 1990 106 Newcastle Herald 18 June 1991 107 Newcastle Herald 2 July 1991, letter from Peter Barrack Secretary Newcastle Trades Hall Council Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 62
30 1992 Civic Prospectus In June 1991, a development consultant was appointed to the council’s earthquake renewal unit. The task was to ‘draw together’ differing views on the future of the civic site, as proposed just prior to the earthquake, and reach a much needed consensus about future development. Also, a Conservation Plan was commissioned for the Fred c Ash building, which made recommendations about how the building could be conserved. 108 Conservation of the whole structure was the preferred option but others options were identified. 109 The outcome was a draft Prospectus, which suggested options for the whole site and guidelines for building height, land use and development intensity. A period of community consultation followed. Two workshops were held in July 1992 and over 20 written submissions were received, which documented every public concern. The Fred c Ash Conservation Plan options were included for discussion in the workshops. In December 1992 the Prospectus, the workshop outcomes and submissions, and other information was put together into a Civic Site Prospectus and Information Package. A special publication The Civic Site was prepared, which invited interested developers to consider the suggested and preferred options for the site and financing options as well. Community voices suggested encouraging small developers to acquire small portions of land to house their own businesses, creating a village-like precinct of two or three storey buildings housing services and clean manufacturing, adhering to a streetscape conservation design. The best financial return to both council and financier was said to be a scheme that included two office towers. However, council was also seeking civic benefits for the whole community. (The town clerk retired in February 1992 replaced by a general manager.) In response to the Prospectus, from three design and tender proposals council selected Peddle Thorpe /Walker (architect/planner) and John Holland Construction and Engineering (builder) in December 1993 as submitting the best concepts. By August 1994, no outward progress had been made but the proposals did progress through a lengthy process involving representatives of the community through a Civic Site Reference Group. Issues that occupied the negotiations included the financial arrangements for the work and the processes involved in implementation. The proposals of the 1980s had involved private sector financing. Those in response to the Prospectus sought council financing in a ‘design and construct’ exercise. Finding an acceptable solution to the restoration and reuse of the Fred c Ash building was time consuming and the entire site redevelopment was seen as long-term. However, the restored Fred c Ash building would form the centrepiece of a creative urban renewal project and an enhanced civic plaza would create public spaces for cultural expression. 108 Fred c Ash Building Conservation Plan and Civic Site Archaeological Assessment, by Godden Mackay, prepared for the Planning Workshop, Rankin and Hill and the Council of the City of Newcastle, July 1992 109 At the same time a (draft) ‘Newcastle Central Area Strategy’ document was prepared in August 1991, which provided for future development in a number of identified precincts in the city, of which the civic site was one. The civic site was allowed buildings of height 45 m, which was the maximum between the extremes of Newcastle East and Newcastle West (see page 29 of the Strategy) Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 63
Page 1 and 2: We are building a civic monument se
Page 3 and 4: In the 1980s it became apparent tha
Page 5 and 6: 14 Civic Park - acquiring the land
Page 7 and 8: the Electric Supply Department. Chr
Page 9 and 10: 17 Civic precinct development in th
Page 11 and 12: walkway and flight of stairs links
Page 13 and 14: Figure 36: 1960s aerial view of the
Page 15 and 16: After 1957, the Cultural Centre Wom
Page 17 and 18: ooks but because they should have t
Page 19 and 20: on purchases by the director. Visit
Page 21 and 22: occasions. Just two years after the
Page 23 and 24: Reaction from the community was var
Page 25 and 26: In 1909, two of Frederick Ash’s s
Page 27 and 28: in opposing light in a lengthy deba
Page 29 and 30: financier and lessee. Many jobs wou
Page 31 and 32: Stage Two was planned to be the hot
Page 33: (Part of the civic site is about 20
Page 37 and 38: complex was completed. A solicitor,
Page 39 and 40: 33 Acknowledgment of Sources Books:
Page 41 and 42: Black Diamond Hotel (right). Part o
Page 43: 1986 Figure 44 Illustration of the

Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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