Developer Lodges Plans to Replace Brutalist Landmark

The tightly-held inner-western suburb of Glebe in Sydney may soon welcome a new boutique apartment and terrace house development after developer Vision Land lodged an application with the City of Sydney last week.

The Sydney-based developer has enlisted architecture firm DKO to design the $30-million project, which comprises 58 residential apartments and seven terrace houses on a 5500sq m site at 357 Glebe Point Road.

The proposed 7800sq m development, dubbed Bidura, follows a number of projects delivered by Vision Land in Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Vision Land purchased the site, which comprises the former Children’s Court and Metropolitan Remand Centre (MRC), and a Victorian villa, Bidura House, from the state government in 2014.

The NSW department of finance and services said that the building was “under-utilised, as it was originally built as a juvenile detention centre and had since been retrofitted to accommodate offices for Family and Community Services and the Department of Justice”.

The brutalist MRC, built in 1983, has, alongside the Sirius building at The Rocks, become a symbol for the fight to protect brutalist architecture in Australia.

The building appears on non-statutory heritage lists, while Bidura House is subject to state heritage protections.

After securing the site, Vision Land lodged a concept development application for the demolition of the Metropolitan Remand Centre and construction of a seven-storey building with 73 apartments and nine two-storey dwellings.

The application was rejected by the council and was later referred to the court.

The developer’s plans to knock down the brutalist building has been questioned by architects and heritage advocates, underscoring debate about whether Sydney’s modernist buildings should be better protected.

The City of Sydney pushed for the centre to be heritage-listed, while the developer launched action in the NSW Land and Environment Court in an attempt to win approval for the project.

The council put forward suggestions to repurpose the seven-storey building, adapting it for use as a primary school for 600 children, or a residential development with a library and gym.

In 2018, senior commissioner Susan Dixon ruled in favour of the developer.

The multi-storey, white off-form concrete building has, alongside the Sirius building at The Rocks, become something of a symbol for the fight to protect brutalist architecture in Australia.

The historic Bidura House residence, ball room, tree-lined garden and timber picket fence fronting Glebe Point Road will be retained as part of the development with a new pedestrian link planned between the residential development and high street.

The Urban Developer tried to contact Vision Land for comment but they did not respond to the request.

The company’s website states the project will create “a sensitive new residential development that respects the rich and significant social, historic and architectural history of Bidura House”.

The developer says its design “seeks to knit sympathetically into the varied adjacent urban fabric, strengthening the existing streetscape along Avon Street, rejuvenating and activating Ferry Lane”.

“[Our design] response seeks to strengthen the existing streetscape along Avon Street, rejuvenating and activating Ferry Lane, and achieving a fine-grain response that is truly of its place.”

In its submission to council, the developers said the proposal contained a “broad mix of residential types to cater for the diverse market”, including traditional and loft style terraces, traditional and intergenerational apartments.

Sydney buyers are increasingly returning to apartment living, as soaring prices push their dream of owning a house further out of reach.

The price gap between units and houses in Sydney is currently at a record high, with freestanding homes in some neighbourhoods costing quadruple the median apartment price.

Sydney house prices jumped more than $100,000 over the past quarter to a record-breaking median of about $1.31 million, while the unit median climbed only $16,300 to $751,000.