The Royal Newcastle Hospital

Planning Workshop Australia was engaged by Mirvac to undertake a Part 3A Environmental Assessment of the proposed redevelopment of the Royal Newcastle Hospital site.

The redevelopment involves 146 residential apartments; a new hotel comprising 89 suites and associated conference and restaurant/bar areas; several further retail spaces; a central publicly accessible plaza with pedestrian linkages to the beach and public streets; basement car parking for 366 vehicles; and extensive landscaping works around the site. The current proposal is to be contained within 3 new buildings distributed across the site, ranging in height from 5 storeys (apartments) to 16 storeys (hotel).

PWA’s Environmental Assessment Report provided a detailed assessment of the current project plan, including consistency with the approved concept plan and the Minister’s January 2007 Part 3A approvals.

Key issues covered in the report included urban design, visual impact and built form considerations, including reference to a detailed ‘Architectural Design Statement’, photo montage and updated shadow analysis.

The Minister for Planning approved the project