Adaptive reuse is the process of modifying a place or building for a compatible alternative purpose while retaining its cultural heritage value. A good adaptation is sympathetic to the place, its existing components and its historic context, and one that makes changes that enhance and complement the identified heritage values of the place.

Respectful, innovative and high-quality adaptive reuse projects can bring fresh life to a place and improve its long-term financial and environmental sustainability. Recent successful adaptive reuse projects in NSW:

• Carriageworks, North Eveleigh (contemporary performing arts centre for theatre, experimental dance and acrobatic theatre housed in the former Eveleigh Carriage Workshops, adjacent to Sydney’s main rail corridor);
• South Eveleigh & the Locomotive Workshop (an industrial-era precinct transformed into a dynamic commercial and retail hub integrating a contemporary industrial museum);
• Tramsheds Harold Park (heritage restoration project, salvaging and reinterpreting the iconic Tramway Depot to create a unique food destination – housing providores who are passionate about food, sustainability and education. Brought back to life, the building is now a much-loved destination for the local community as well as domestic and international visitors);
• Hinchcliff House, Quay Quarter Lanes, Sydney (One of Sydney’s last remaining wool stores (1860-1881), conserved and adapted as a multi-level hospitality venue in the city’s heritage heartland);
• Capella Hotel, Sydney (early 20th century sandstone building formerly housing the NSW Department of Education and repurposed as a luxury hotel);
• White Bay Power Station, Sydney;

And other local adaptive reuse projects including:

• The Mint, Sydney CBD (adaptive reuse of an 1816 general hospital for convict patients, now home to Museums of History NSW’s head office, the Caroline Simpson Library, the Bullion Store cafe and various venue hire spaces. The Mint is the oldest surviving public building in the Sydney CBD);
• Smoky Cape Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Hat Head National Park (conversion of historic lighthouse Head and Assistant Keepers cottages into commercial accommodation);
• George Patterson House, Sydney (late 19th Century showroom and warehouse repurposed as Establishment Hotel – a hospitality venue, restaurant, bar and boutique hotel)
• Irving Street Brewery (formerly the old Kent Brewery) in Sydney’s Central Park neighbourhood

Examples of adaptive reuse gaol conversions include:

• Pentridge Prison, Coburg, Victoria (heritage listed penal establishment from 1851 , now a multi-venue precinct)
• Liberty Hotel Boston, USA (formerly Boston’s Charles Street Gaol, now a luxury hotel); and
• Hotel Wilmina, Berlin (formerly a courthouse and women’s prison then a juvenile detention centre, now a luxury hotel)

 

From “New Uses for Heritage Places” (Guidelines for the Adaptation of Historic Buildings and Sites) written by the NSW Heritage Office, NSW Department of Planning and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter):

• “Cities and towns across the state invariably benefit when their buildings are creatively designed and functional. (…) Alongside that, we need to protect the history and character that makes our state unique. Adapting heritage buildings to creative new uses helps to achieve both these goals. Put simply, heritage buildings need to be used to be appreciated and provide the greatest value to the community. Once a building’s function becomes redundant, adapting it to a new use provides for its future.”