Residential aged care provider Mercy Health is seeking to redevelop the site of the Good Shepherd Chapel within the heritage-listed Abbotsford Convent complex in Melbourne’s inner north-east. In their scheme, the organisation’s defunct two-storey facility is set to be demolished in its entirety to make way for a new four-storey building designed by Life Architecture and Urban Design (formerly CHT Architects).
Plans currently advertised with Heritage Victoria show the new building’s two forms separated by a double-height, indoor lobby space that forms the centre of the west-facing Clarke Street frontage. A proposed outdoor communal space adjoins the side of the chapel building.
According to a heritage impact statement from Bryce Raworth, “This massing has been provided in part to […] create an enhanced view of the spire of the Good Shepherd Chapel.” In addition, the heritage consultancy argues that in increasing the building’s setbacks on three sides, “the new building will […] provide much greater separation from the convent building and Good Shepherd Chapel than at present.”
Despite this intention, an article in The Age notes that CEO of the Abbotsford Convent Foundation Justine Hyde expressed concerns that the scale and bulk of the proposed development will inhibit views to the chapel, and that the proximity of the development to its surrounds will cause impact to neighbours’ as well as future aged care residents’ amenity.
“It’s a higher height and density than any other developments nearby, and it adds another potentially 100 residents to Clarke Street, which is significant in terms of traffic and noise,” Hyde told The Age.
According to the article, “Hyde said the convent was open to redevelopment if the new building remained the same height [as the existing building]. However, in its application, Mercy Health said 60 units were considered the minimum for the project to be financially viable.”
The existing building served as a hostel for the convent’s nuns when it was constructed in 1977 and was converted to a 92-bed aged care facility in 2015 before closing in 2023. It currently contains an enclosed, single-storey link to the historic chapel that will be removed in the redevelopment. In contrast to the existing facility, the new building seeks to establish 64 private apartments, along with a single level of basement carparking.
Comprised predominantly of pale grey-brown brick with grey shingle cladding and dark grey metal trims, the envelope of the proposed development is described in the heritage statement as having “a restrained, trabeated architectural treatment that incorporates extensive articulation.”
The landscape design by Arcadia is informed by the masterplan for the Abbotsford Convent precinct prepared by Hassell in 2021. Described by the studio as “a mosaic of landscapes and land uses,” the site is envisioned as a place for Country, community, storytelling, journey and connection, featuring ornamental gardens, green walls, indigenous planting and a public pocket park.
Public consultation for the project is closed, and the application is set to be assessed by Heritage Victoria before being reviewed by the City of Yarra.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
