University of Newcastle
The University of Newcastle
Callaghan Campus Conservation
Project Overview
Providing heritage consultancy services to the University of Newcastle for seven years.
Heritage Asset Action Plan
Statement of Heritage Impact
Heritage Assessment
Design Development
Service Category:
Callaghan, NSW
Location:
2019- current
Year of Completion:
The University of Newcastle
Client:
Heritas has developed a trusted long-term relationship with the University of Newcastle, providing heritage consultancy across its Callaghan campus to support the ongoing care and sensitive management of its significant built heritage. Central to this relationship is our role advising the University on the foundational buildings that were the genesis of the Callaghan campus, including the Great Hall and the McMullin Building, two of the three original structures constructed on the Shortland site following the University's formation.
The Great Hall, completed in 1971 to a design by Sydney architects Ancher, Mortlock, Murray and Woolley in their signature Late Twentieth-Century Sydney Regional style, is the most significant of these. Perched at the crest of the original campus, it anchors one end of the original masterplan axis and serves as the social heart of the University, the place where students begin and end their educational journey and where the broader Newcastle community connects with the institution. Listed on the Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Buildings in NSW and the University's own Section 170 Heritage Conservation Register, the Hall is a place of genuine significance that demands careful stewardship. Heritas was commissioned to prepare a Heritage Asset Action Plan providing a comprehensive framework for its understanding and ongoing conservation, and has guided works including the installation of a new digital screen within this significant interior.
A photographic archival record of the McMullin Building and Lecture Theatre was also prepared alongside a heritage assessment that informed the University's understanding of its obligations in relation to the building's future.
Beyond the foundational campus buildings, Heritas undertook a significance assessment and photographic archival record of the Hunter Building, a 1970s Brutalist structure erected as part of the Newcastle Teachers' College Waratah campus under the tenure of prominent NSW Government Architect E.H. Farmer. The assessment identified the Hunter Building as a rare intact example of Farmer's educational design work and a place of high local significance for its historical, aesthetic and social values.
