Heritage advocates argue legacy buildings should be preserved even as cities grow

ABC NEWS (Australia)

While Canberra is only 100 years old, it still has plenty of places and things with a history worth preserving. As the city grows, how do we preserve elements of the past while ensuring we grow with the community needs for the future.

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00:00From the globally acclaimed skateboarding mecca of the Erindale brick banks to former

00:07public housing flats, architecture advocates argue Canberra's past is worth saving.

00:13People assume that protecting our heritage means we can't grow or change as a city, which

00:18is absolutely not the case. To attract workers to the growing capital, the government built

00:23public housing, like the Northbourne Housing Precinct. When the blocks were sold, most were

00:29but five examples were heritage listed. We were lucky on this project that the heritage

00:34allowed for the external fabric to be brought up to modern day standards.

00:41The constraints did create design and engineering challenges, from excavating three basements deep

00:47to keeping the heritage landscaping, paths and trees. But ultimately, it created more housing.

00:53On this original block of land, there would have been three of the bachelor flats, built

00:58in a pattern. They were interconnected by arbours and external car parks. In the new context

01:04of the new site, there is approximately 141 apartments, plus the existing seven.

01:10Some trees also come with heritage listing. Planted as a windbreak when Downal was an experimental

01:15farm in the 40s and 50s, these pines are a growing concern for residents of the Bradfield Street

01:20apartments.

01:21When we heard that Canary Island Pines were going to be here, I just thought a big error

01:28had been made. The government website says that they're going to be 25 metres tall, and that's

01:33going to cast a wall of winter shade right across the north-facing building.

01:38The group advocated to have the pines replaced with deciduous trees, but heritage rules require

01:44a like-for-like replacement. The new Heritage Council seems to be open to dialogue, and I

01:49really hope that we can find sensible local solutions rather than just such a black and

01:55white siloed approach. They've applied to have the heritage listing cancelled, and expect

02:00a decision in November. We have to have a way of thinking about heritage that involves

02:05more than simply their age, and talks and thinks about the wider story and the wider legacy

02:10piece that those buildings are. But we shouldn't be so quick to knock things down just because

02:15a little bit of thought and a little bit of extra effort has to go into retrofitting it.

02:19Heritage hope and hurdles in protecting pockets of our past to grow into the future.

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