Heritage at Manly Hospital Site

UPDATE:   Pominent Australian architecture firm COX Architecture has been appointed lead consultant for the transformation of old Manly Hospital site. The firm, which won a competitive tender for the job, will be responsible for the masterplan and rezoning of the site to create a new 'health and wellbeing' precinct. The firm will work with Property NSW, NSW Health, National Parks & Wildlife Service and community representatives and is expected to deliver a masterplan to Northern Beaches Council next year. The plan will also be put on exhibition for public comment. COX Architecture is a multi-disciplinary firm which integrates architecture, planning, urban design and interior design. It has been involved in many large-scale projects, including the recently-released concept design for the passenger terminal at Western Sydney International Airport

3/10/2019:  Heritage buildings will be preserved and a masterplan will be developed for the old Manly Hospital site. That's the promise from Property NSW after a tour of the site for community group members today.  ​

Project manager Tahlee Smith gave a guarantee that all heritage listed elements on site would be preserved, including most of the 'main building' (where admissions and emergency used to be) and the gateway arches which marked the original hospital entrance (both pictured below). She said the buildings would be restored to their former glory, with the old entrance reinstated, if possible, as the gateway to the new precinct.

​Part of Building No 15 (previously Outpatients and Physiotherapy), Parkhill Cottage (previously respite care for Alzheimer's patients) and a long sandstone wall next to the site of the proposed Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice will also be retained. As well, the well-known five-sided kiosk building may be retained despite its not having a heritage status.

Images:  The proposed site of the new hospice, and artist's impression of the completed building.

​Ms Smith said the next step was to develop a comprehensive masterplan for the whole site, and that the State Government was on the point of appointing a major architecture firm to  lead that process. She said the search for new enterprises for the site had been delayed to allow time for planning work to be done.  This is great news as the community has been calling for a masterplan since it became clear Manly Hospital would close. 

In other good news, Ms Smith promised that community consultation would continue and an advisory group, made up of community leaders and council staff, would be re-instated. 

However some issues remain, including the pressing need  for services, including mental health support and respite care, which were lost when the hospital closed.  And there seems to be no ongoing plan for overall control of the site, with Ms Smith unable to say who would be managing the precinct in four years time. 

Property NSW, which has oversight of the 6ha site, is tasked with the 'adaptive reuse of the existing heritage buildings to deliver a mix of open and community space, ancillary retail and commercial space focussed on health and wellbeing'. The State Government body will work with community and council stakeholders, the Parks and Wildlife Service and NSW Health, which will deliver the new hospice.

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